Also by Kliushwant Singh
in UBSPD
Sex, Scotch & Scholarship
(Selected Writings)
Need for a New Religion in India
and Other Essays
Khushwant Singh
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© Khushwant Singh
First Published 1992 ‘‘lUUilpj! UlliV
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To
Giani Zail Singh
who stood for the Khalsa Panth
against fanaticism, and
for the integrity of India
Contents
Calendar of Events 1
Introduction 5
1. In Amritsar 7
2. The Harimandir Sahib 13
3. The Sikh Psyche 25
4. The Bhindranwale Phenomenon 45
5. Plain Speaking on the Punjab 54
6. Operation Bluestar 72
7. The White Paper and My Peace Plan 77
8. Indira Gandhi’s Assassination and its
Aftermath 88
9. Rajiv Gandhi’s Debut 104
10. The Rajiv-Longowal Accord 110
11. The Scenario in 1987-88 120
12. Punjab Diary 1989-1992 133
13. Conclusion 155
Calendar of Events
August 1977
13 April, 1978
24 April, 1980
20 March, 1981
9 Sept., 1981
20 Sept, 1981
15 Oct, 1981
13 April, 1982
— Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale becomes
head of the Damdami Taksal, launches
Amrit Prachar campaign.
— Confrontation between Bhindranwale’s
followers and Nirankaris at Amritsar.
— Baba Gurbachan Singh, head of the
Nirankaris, slain at Delhi.
— Flag of ‘New Republic of Khalistan’
hoisted at Anandpur Sahib.
— Lala Jagat Narain, head of Hind
Samachar group of newspapers
murdered.
— Bhindranwale arrested at Chowk
Mehta. Wave of murders, bomb explo-
sions, sabotage of railway tracks,
hijacking of an lA plane follows.
— Bhindranwale released. More murders,
explosions and shoot-outs.
— World Sikh Convention organised by
Shiromani Akali Dal to stress that
Sikhs are a separate nation.
1
Khushwant Singh
24 April, 1982
4 Aug., 1982
4 April, 1983
25 April, 1983
June-July, 1983
6 Oct., 1983
14 Feb., 1984
27 Feb., 1984
13 Mar., 1984
28 Mar., 1984
Apr.-May, 1984
23 May, 1984
6'June, 1984
31 Oct., 1984
31 Oct., 1984
31 Oct., 1984
NaharRoko agitation organised. Desec-
ration of gurdwaras and temples
follows.
Shiromani Akali Dal launches its
intensified morcha: Dharam Yuddho.
Two lA planes hijacked and Chief
Minister Darbara Singh escapes bid on
his life. Wave of murders continues.
Rasta Roko agitation organised by the
Akali Dal.
DIG of Police, Jalandhar, A,S. Atwal
shot dead at the Golden Temple.
Number of banks and armouries looted.
President’s rule promulgated in Punjab.
Bank and shop robberies continue into
the next year.
Hindu Suraksha Samiti organises a
Ihinjab Bandh. It is marked by violence.
Pages of Article 25 of the Constitution
burnt by the Akali Dal.
Attempt on the life of Darbara Singh.
Harbans Singh Manchanda, President
Delhi Gurdwara Prabandhak Commi-
ttee shot dead.
Killings continue on a daily basis.
Longowal launches Non-Cooperation
Programme.
Operation Bluestar to flush out
terrorists from the Golden Temple.
Bhindranwale killed.
Mrs. Indira Gandhi assassinated by her
Sikh body-guards. An Anti-Sikh Pogrom
in Delhi.
Elections announced.
Congress-I wins a thumping majority
2
24:July,:i98^
20 Aug., 1985
2^ Sept, 1985
June, 1989
22 & 24 Nov.,
i089- '• '
2 Dec., 1989
7 Dec,, 1989
10 Nov., ^1990 "
6 Dec., 1990
21 May, 1991
20 June, 1991
21 June, 1991
Feb,, 1992
; and Rajiv Gapdhi takes over as Prime
; Minister.'
— Rajiv-Longowal Accord signed.
— Sant Harcband .,Singli Longowal
murdered.
— Akalis win majority in the Punjab
Assembly. Surjit Singh Bamala takes
over as Chief Minister.
— Khalistani terrorists train their guns
on hawkers of the Mind Samachar
group of papers.
— Fresh elections held,
—' Janata Dal comes to power. V.P. Singh
^ — V.P, Singh visits the Golden Temple.
— Chandrashekhar forms Government
— R.K. Talib, Station Director of AIR
murdered., ■ ;>
— ^ Rajiv Gandhi assassinated. .
— Election countermanded 24 hours
before polling.
— Congress-I comes to power, P.!/",
Narasimha Rao takes over as Prime
>'Ministeri' v- j-. ,
— Election held' in Punjab. Less than
20 per cent voting. Beant Singh takes
over as Congress Party Chief Minister.
Vatan kee fikr kar naadaan!
Museebat aaney vaalee hai,
Teri barbaadyon kay mashvarey hain assmaanon mein
Zaraa deykh is ko jo kuch ho raha hai, honain vaala hai,
Dharaa kya hai bkalaa ahadd-kuhan kee daastaanon main?
— AUama Iqbal
Think of your homeland, you foolish man!
Of misfortimes that lie in store;
Your ruin is plotted in the skies.
Just look at what is going on
What we are heading for,
By recounting tales of bygone days,
What profit will you find?
4
Introdvictipn
T he poKtical climate of the Punjab started hotting
up in the latter years of the 197ps, and came tb thh
boil in the 1980s. By coincidence I was appointed
editor of The Hindustan Times and a nominated Member
of the Rajya Sabha in 1980. Quite a bit of what I wrote
as editor and the speeches I made in Parliament dealt
with the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Statefthe
Akali-Nirankari clash, the rise of JarnaU Singh
Bhindranwale, the Dharma Yudh Morcha, storming of
the Golden Temple by the Indian army, the assassination
of Mrs Indira Gandhi and the massacre of Sikhs in towns :
and cities of northern India. Then came the Rajiv-
Longowal Accord, its betrayal by the Rajiv Qandhi-led
Congress goyernment, the prolonged periods of ;
President's rule, the steep escalation- and spread pf
terrorist activities to other parts of India. Even after I.;-
h Hindustan Tinies and retired from
; :&e ;RaiJ^ Sabha, Piinjab continued: to baftheftheme^pft^t
m and syndicated (xi\majxs(WUh^alice i y
r - ^Tpwai^ One and All, This Above oM eoaA Gbssi^^
' ■ ■:' 5 ,
Khushwant Singh
& Sour. In addition I wrote a number of articles for
foreign newspapers and magaadnes. Rohini Chopra (nee
Singh) who has compiled and edited many of my books
has done a heroic job sorting out my articles and speeches,
editing and putting them in the chronological order so
that I could use some of them in this book. They truly
reflect my personal views on Pimjab politics and the
mess made by narrow-minded Akali leaders on the one
side and the deliberately mischievous politics of the
central government led by Mrs Indira Gandhi and her
son Rajiv Gandhi on the other. Between them they have
brought all the progress in the most progressive state of
India to a standstill, ruined its agricultural and industrial
economy and reduced its administration and judiciary to
shambles. It is a tragic story. Since I am an Indian, a
Punjabi and a Sikh, my responses to the events narrated
in this book are rmderstandably emotional. For this I
make no apologies.
New Delhi Khushwant Singh
6
1
In Amritsar
is the most fertile land in the world; any
I ’seed you sow in it sprouts into gold/' remarked
JL Gurinder Singh, son of late Chief Minister of
the Punjab, Pratap Singh Kairon, popularly regarded as
the builder of modem Punjab. Kairon was shot and killed
on 6th of February 1965 while travelling on the Grand
Trunk Road some 35 kilometers north-west of Delhi.
With him died dreams of a prosperous, united Hindu-
Sikh Punjabi State. A year after his death, the State was
split into three, Punjab a majority Sikh State and Haryana
and Himachal Pradesh both preponderantly Hindu. With
the seeds of prosperity sown during the Green Revolution
which made Punjab the most affluent agricultural state
in India were sown seeds of discord between Punjabi
Hindus and Sikhs. One could see this as clearly as day-
light the day I visited Amritsar a fortnight after the
notorious Operation Bluestar carried out on the 5th and
6th of June 1984.
'i
Khushwant Singh
From the window of the aircraft descending on
Amritsar’s Raja Sansi airport, I could see a vast stretch
of fresh, emerald green paddy fields flecked with snow-
white egrets. A heavy shower had fallen an hour before
and washed the countryside making it look fresher, cleaner
and greener. It was a scene of peace and prosperity.
No sooner we landed at Raja Sansi, the illusion of
I)eace was dispelled. There were soldiers in battle-green
uniforms everywhere, stenguns slung on their shoulders,
hands dangerously close to the triggers. Along the route
from the airport to the Ritz Hotel I passed several groups
of soldiers sprawled on the grassy kerb. At a major
intersection of roads, besides constables on traffic duty,
there were men of the Home Guards, Central Reserve
Police Force, Border Secmrity Force and the regular army.
At one point there was a bunker made of sand-bags with
the nozzle of a machine gun pointing towards the crowded
bazaar.
They told me Amritsar was slowly but surely
returning to normal. There were certainly crowds around
cinemas and cafes where there had been none for over
a year. The car park outside the Amritsar Club in
Rambagh was full of cars, scooters, ice cream and chaat
vendors. However, the bazaar inside the walled city
still looked somewhat forlorn. I was driven from Gandhi
Gate through Hall Bazaar, usually congested with people,
without meeting any traffic and arrived at the main
Clock Tower entrance of the Golden Temple in less than
five minutes. Rolled-up barbed wire entanglements
prevented my going any closer. It was from the back
wall of the as yet unrepaired cycle-shed that I got an
idea of what must have passed on the night of the 5th
and 6th of June; its entire surface was pitted with bullet
marks. And it was not even in the fighting zone.
8
My Bleeding Punjab
It was 3 p.m. — an hour before the Temple gates
were usually thrown open. There were hardly any
worshippers. I washed my feet and went down the marble
steps. At first sight I could not see any visible signs of
damage. It was after a while I noticed that the marble
flooring of the parikrama had been newly laid without
any of the inscriptions in Gurmukhi and Urdu bearing
the names of donors and that the verandah flanking it
had been freshly patched and whitewashed. Then I
noticed that the two towers called Ramgarhia Bungas
built during the time of Maharajah Ranjit Singh, which
had overlooked the Temple complex, had their tops blown
off. A third, the water tower looked intact but had in
fact been put out of commission. It was only after I had
gone round half the parikrama and come to the shrine
of Baba Deep Singh Shaheed, the man who had slain
Massa Ragha, a desecrator of the temple, that I saw
evidence of massive damage done to the Harimandir
complex. It was from this side that army tanks had
advanced. A part of the parikrama had sunk under their
weight. The entire eastern side of the complex which
housed the archives containing over a thousand
handwritten copies of the Granth Sahib (many donated
by Pakistani Muslims after they had migrated) and
hukumnamahs bearing signatures of the gurus had gone
up in flames. It was from here that tank cannons had
fired at the Akal Takht bringing down its roof, setting it
op fire and thus forcing Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale
and his men to come out in the open and wage an
obviously losing battle against heavy odds. It was the
tanks’ heavy guns which pierced gaping holes in the
Darshani Deori (entrance to the viaduct to the Hari-
mandir) tearing away much of the Ilaichi Beri tree along-
side a shrine. The Akal Takht with all its relics was a
total wreck.
9
Khushwant Singh
Peoples’ reactions were telling. There were a sizeable
number of Hindus present. They seemed to be more
interested in seeing how the Sikhs reacted to the damage
to their Temple than seeing it for themselves. The Sikhs
gaped at the Temple with unbelieving eyes. I coxild see
no religious fervour in their faces; they looked as if they
were going round a museum or a picture gallery. It was
the same in the Harimandir. Hardly anyone paid
attention to the keertan. After perfunctory obeisance to
the Granth Sahib, they went round on the upper floors
and counted bullet marks. Contrary to government
contention that due to the army’s self-imposed restraints,
the Harimandir had escaped damage, I counted over two
dozen fresh bullet marks myself including some that
had pierced through metal covered windows and
shattered glass-panes protecting fresco paintings. The
Sikhs’ faces were flushed with anger; some burst into
invective against desecrators using earthy Punjabi abuse
never heard in the sacred premises. A few put their
foreheads against the bullet marks and broke down in
sobs and tears. Back at the Darshani Deori I saw old
women pressed to the trunk and remaining branches of
the llaichi Beri as if it were a human being whose arms
and legs had been amputated.
What once had been the Akal Takht had been fenced
off by a wall of barbed -wire. Mounds of debris lay heaped
on one side. Two tall Niahaan Sahibs (flag poles) beating
the tri-colour saffron flags of the Khalsa Panth fluttered
defiantly in the monsoon breeze. Little besides these
flag poles was unscathed. People collected in small groups
to hear what others, who pretended to know more, had
to say about the army action. Wildly exaggerated stories
of the heroism of Bhindranwale’s men, of the number of
innocent pilgrims, including women and children killed.
10
My Bleeding Punjab
were heard with rapt attention. One young man drew
my attention to a signboard on a wall alongside the Akal
Takht. The army authorities had put it up sometime
after it had occupied the Temple complex and overlooked
removing it after it had been thrown open to the public.
It read: “No smoking or drinking allowed here.” That is
what our jawans had been doing in the sacred premises.
Their nerves had^ become over-wrought; the stench of
the dead and the groans of the dying had become too
much to bear. Most of them did not even know that
smoking was anathema to Sikh sentiment or that the
courtyard separating the Akal Takht from the
Harimandir was a part of the Temple. Rum and cigarettes
helped to soothe their frayed nerves. “They walked about
the parikrama with their boots on,” said one. “They shot
boys of 15 and 20 in cold blood after tying their hands
behind them with their turbans,” said another. “They
gassed and burnt pilgrims hiding in the rooms along the
parikrama. You can still see the bones lying about and
smell the stench of death.” Their minds were so inflamed
that they beheved anything they were told. Even that
Bhindranwale had escaped ahve and would soon come back.
The Golden Temple no longer meant the same thing
to the Sikhs that it had meant for the 300 years it had
been there. It still looked lovely with its gilded domes
and marble reflected in the waters of the pool
surromading it. Monsoon clouds tumbled across the blue
skies and flocks of pigeons flew across as they always
had. But the spirit that had pervaded it seemed to have
gone for ever. The flower seller at the entrance said to
me: “There are no worshippers here anymore; they are
all tamashbeens — sightseers,”
Meeting Hindus and Sikhs of Amritsar further
confirmed the irreparable damage donefto the hearts of
11
Khushwant Singh
two peoples who till recently had regarded themselves
as one, given their sons and daughters in marriage to
each other, worshipped in each other’s shiines and shared
each other’s joys and sorrows. When I talked to the
Hindus, they harped on the reign of terror let loose by
Bhindranwale but did not mention the damage done by
the army. When I talked to the Sikhs, they glibly dodged
any reference to Bhindranwale’s hateful utterances and
the cold-blooded killing of innocents by his gunmen but
dwelt at length on the wanton destruction of life and
sacred property by the army. Their anger was more
directed towards their Hindu neighbours. “They
celebrated the destruction of the Akal Takht by
distributing laddoos; they entertained the jawans with
sweets, cigarettes and hquor. They did not give a damn
about our hurt feelings,” they said. A Sikh manufacturer
of motor spare parts told me of his first visit to the
Temple after the army action. “We were passing through
Hall Bazaar when a Hindu shopkeeper tossed a packet
of cigarettes over our heads to a friend on the other side
of the Bazaar shouting, ‘here’s the latest brand of
cigarettes — Bhindranwale mark’.”
What brought about this terrible divide between
the two communities which had appeared to the world
as indivisible?
The story goes back to the birth of Sikhism and its
formation as a separate religious community. Also to the
history of the Harimandir Sahib, the holy shrine about
which the Sikhs are understandably touchy and whose
sanctity they are willing to defend with their lives.
12
2
The Harimandir Sahib
I f there is one place of worship in the world which
welcomes people of all faiths and enshrines within it
a scripture containing hymns composed by Hindus
and Muslims of all castes and worships it as God
incarnate, it is the Harimandir of Amritsar. Jews deny
Gentiles access to their Wailing Wall, Zoroastrians forbid
non-Zoroastrians' entrance to their Agiaries, Catholics
forbid non-Catholics from approaching their sacred relics,
Hindus bar the gates of their temples to Muslims and
Christians (and till recently to people of low-castes as
well). Muslims deny non-Muslims admission to Mecca
and Medina. Only the doors of the Harimandir, popularly
known as the Darbar Sahib and the (hilden Temple, are
open to everyone, no matter what race or religion he or
she belongs to. Everyone can participate in the worship
that goes on almost round the clock and everyone can
get a free meal at the Guru ka Langur—^ guru’s kitchen.
13
Khushwant Singh
Just as Sikhism is itself an edifice built of Hindu
bricks and Muslim mortar, so also the Sikhs’ holiest
shrine bears witness to its Hindu-Muslim genealogy. The
third of the Sikh’s ten gurus, Guru Amar Das, received
the site of the land as a gift on his daughter’s wedding
from Emperor Akbar. Guru Amar Das’s son-in-law. Ram
Das, who had represented the guru in the Mughal court
had a tank dug in the place. When he succeeded his
father-in-law as the fourth guru of the Sikhs, he decided
to build a new town aroimd the tank. The Amritsar
Gazeteer of 1883-84 records that “in the year 1577 he
(Guru Ram Das) obtained a grant of the site, together
with 500 bighas of land, from the Emperor Akbar, on
payment of fe. 700 to the Zamindar of Timg, who owned
the land.” Guru Ram Das (1534-1581) shifted the
headquarters of the Sikh faith from Goindwal to the
new township which came to be known after him as
Guru Ka Chak, Chak Ram Das or Ram Das Pura. He
invited traders to set up their businesses in the town.
Guru Ram Das had three sons of whom he consi-
dered the yoimgest, Arjun Mai, to be the most suited to
succeed him. IVhen Ram Das died in 1581, Aqun became
the fifth guru of the Sikhs. It was he who raised the
Harimandir in the midst of the tank. In keeping with
the eclectic spirit of Sikhism, he invited a Mushm divine,
Hazrat Mian Meer of Lahore to lay the foundation stone
of the Temple. Two aspects of the architecture of the
Harimandir deserve notice. Instead of building the shrine
on a high phnth as was the Hindu custom, Aijun had it
built on a lower level than the surrounding land so that
worshippers would have to go down the steps to enter it.
When it was represented to Aijun that the Temple should
be the highest building in the locality, he is reported to
have replied; “No, what is humble shall be exalted. The
14
My Punjab '
more, a tree is laden with fniit, the
descend to the ea^-th. By whatever way you ^approach the
Temple, you must descend eight to ten steps, rtherpfore
let the Harimandir be the lowest ..edifice - of aU ” The
second feature was that whereas Ifindu templea had
only one entrance, the Haiimandir had four— repre-
senting the four, ihindu castes— Brahmin, : Kshatriya,
Vaishya and Shudra. All were welcome.. !
After the Temple was completed and the tank fiijed
with water, it was given a new name Amrii (nectar) Sajt
(tank) or the pool of immortality. Guru Arjun composed
a special hymn on the occasion: “Santaan day kaaraj qap
khaloya: God himself came and did the work of saints;
into the beautiful land and the beautiful tank he poured
nectar ... bathing in the tank is equal to bathing in the
68 places of pilgrimage, to the bestowal of almsy and the
performance of great purifications.” A couplet which is
on the lips of pilgrims who visit Amritsar runs:
Ram Das Sarovar naahtey
Utrey sab paap kamaatey
He who bathes in the tank of Ram Das ■
Is washed off of all sins committed by him. '
The city itself came to be known as the “House of Praise”,
Amritsar: siftee da ghar. What Varanasi was to the
Hindus and Mecca to the Muslims, Amritsar became to
the Sikhs: their most important place of pilgrimage.
i A few years after the building of the Harimandi^^^
Guru Arjim retired .tpi a neighbouring wood where under
the bpsky shade bfPeepal, figandiVeew
compiling an anthology of sacred hynids. ; Hu ^
contebutions fiom/ different sects; of Hindus and Muslims^
The task ^^ w^^ completed in the year 1604. A.D- an4^t^^^^
;15,d
Khushwant Singh
Adi Granth, as it came to be known, was formally
installed in the Harimandir with a senior disciple. Baba
Buddha, as the first reader or Granthi.
Mischief makers did not take long to fill the ears of
Emperor Akbar wth false reports that the Adi Granth
contained passages vilifying Islam. On his way north
from Agra, Akbar stopped near Amritsar and asked Guru
Aijun to let him examine the Book. Bhai Buddha and
another disciple, Bhai Gurdas, called on the Emperor
and asked him to open the volume anywhere he liked.
By a strange coincidence, the page opened by Akbar had
Guru Argun’s own compilation in Persian:
From earth to light God made the world:
The sky, earth, trees and water are God’s creation.
Man, whatever your eye perceives is perishable.
The second hymn that Emperor Akbar examined was:
You tied a stone to your neck.
And saw not God who dwells in yoiu: heart.
O infidel, you wandered astray in error;
You churned water and shall die in agony.
The stone which you callest God
Shall take you with it and drown you.
O Sinner, untrue to your salt.
It is not a boat of stone which will ferry you over.
On meeting the guru, Nanak recognised the Lord.
The eclectic character of the Adi Granth deserves
notice. It is the only religious scripture in the world
which accords divinity to compilations of peoples of
different faiths. Amongst the oldest and the most revered
contributors is Shaikh Ibrahim Farid. 134 of Farid’s
hymns are found in the Adi Granth. He exhorts people
to turn to Allah:
16
My Bleeding Punjab
Listen to the words of Shaikh Parid
O dear ones, come to Allah.
This body will be reduced to dust
When it makes the grave its home.
0 Shaikh Farid, if you could but stay
The ceaseless swan flights of your mind
You would meet the Lord this very day.
If I knew that I would die
Never to return again
1 would not follow the false ways of the world
Nor let my life be spent in vain.
In your speech be true, in your actions be right,
And spread no falsehood.
O Farid, tread the path the Guru shows.
Wfliat takes six months to quicken with life
Dies an instant death.
It is swift as the flight of swans in the spring
And the stampede of beasts in a forest fire.
It is a flash of lightning amid the rains,
And transitory as the winter hours
When maidens are in love’s embrace.
All that is must cease: on this ponder.
Farid, the earth questioned the sky:
Where are the mighty captains gone?
“In their graves they rot,” was the reply
And are rebulced for tasks not done.
541 hymns written by Kabir are included in the Adi
Granth. As a weaver he used similes and metaphors of
his trade:
17
Khushwant Singh
humghar soot taneh nit taana kanthjanet tumharey
Know you who wears the sacred thread
That its yam is spun in my house?
You but recite the Vedas and the Gaitri,
While in my heart is His prayer said.
On my lips is the name of God
In my eyes shines His light
In my heart He has His abode.
What about you, O Brahmin,
When death comes what will be your plight?
We are as a herd of cattle
And you our shepherd from age to age
If you lead us not to pastures new
What sort of husbandman are you?
You are a Brahmin and a humble weaver J
Yet how did I this wsdom find?
You seek favours of the princes
On the Lord have I fixed my mind.
The Maharashtrian Sant Nam Dev (1270-1350)
has 60 of his hymns extolling his deity, Beethal, in the
Adi Granth:
Pure and splendrous He came
As a waft of fragrance
No one saw Him come
No one saw Him go.
How can one describe Him,
How claim to know the nature
Of Him who has no lineage?
18
MyMeedihgPunjab^^^-^^^^^
The flight of birds- in the >
The way of fish in the water; . - ^
Leave no trace for the eye. v v : ^
The heat from the heavens creates- a mirage™
These are all illusions. - : ,
As is knowledge of the Lord of Namdev. , ; ; ,
The spirit of Nanak, the founder of Siklusm, who
began his mission with the proclamation, “There, is ho
Hindu, there is no Musalman” pervades all the h^ns
in the Adi Granth. Says Nanak:
Mehar masit sidak musalla
If you would be a MusKm true
Let your life these rules pursue.
Let your mosque be the abode of kindness , ' . . ;
In it spread your prayer-mat of faith,
And as you read the Koran think of righteous acts.
Let modesty be your circumcision— -your troth with
God .
And gentle acts the fasts you keep , .
Let the rewards of good deeds be your kaaba
And truth your preceptor. ;
Let the Kalima be your acts of mercy.
And as you tell the beads of the rosary
Dwell upon the Lord’s commandments.
Says Nanak: The Lord will preserve your honour:
Musalman kahavan muskal . ; . :
To be a Musalman is not easy , v-.. v . ■ ; ; ■
Only he who is one should make the claim., , ,
He should first follow in the footsteps Of the holy
: . And accept their bitter words as sweet;:^^^;;:
19 .
Khushwant Singh
Rid himself of worldly goods
As sandpaper rids iron of rust.
A Muslim’s faith is to follow his leader
Caring neither for life nor death;
To believe that there is a God above
Whose will is Law,
And abandon aU thoughts of self.
0 Nanak, if the Creator is merciful
Will you become a true Musalman
Guru Aijun, who was the first to proclaim the
existence of a third faith different from Hinduism and
Islam nevertheless expressed reverence for both:
1 do not keep the Hindu fast, nor the Muslim
Ramazan;
I serve Him alone who is my refuge.
I serve the One Master, who is also Allah.
I have broken with the Hindu and the Muslim,
I will not worship with the Hindu, nor like the
Muslim go to Mecca;
I shall serve Him and no other.
I will not pray to idols nor say the Muslim prayer.
I shall put my heart at the feet of the One Supreme
Being,
For we are neither Hindus nor Musahnans.
All Guru Aijun’s writings (he was the largest single
contributor) echo the message of love and faith in one
omnipotent God.
Bhuj bal bir brahma sukh sugar
O Lord of Mighty Arms,
Creator of all things,
20
My Jtsieeamg runjaa
, O Ocean of peace!
Take me by my hand and raise pie
Who am fallen in a pit
My ears hear not
My eyes have lost their light
I am crippled, afflicted
Like a leper I come stumbling to Your door
And cry for help
You are the Lord of the fallen
Above You there is no Lord
O Compassionate One,
You are my Companion,, Friend^ Father and Mother
Let Nanak bear the imprint of yopr feet in his heart.
The Harimandir was blown up by the Afghan
conqueror Ahmed Shah Abdali many times and had to
be rebuilt again. It was finally built in its present shape
in maihle and gold leaf by Maharajah Ranjit Singh
(whose wife Mehtab Kaur bui|^t the shrine of the Sufi,
Data Ganj Baksh in Lahore). An inscription above the
entrance of the central shrine reads:
The great Guru in His wisdom looked upon
Maharajah Ranjit Singh as his chief servitor
and Sikh, and in his benevolence, bestowed
on him the privilege of serving the temple.
(Dated Sambat, 1887)
rphe Sikhs are understandably very touchy about the
Harimandir. Any attempt to desecrate its sanctity
21
Khushwant Singh
has been countenanced by the slaying of people who
perpetrated it. For many years during British rule the
Temple’s affairs were looked after by a family of
hereditary priests (mahants) who were more anxious to
curry favour with the rulers than maintain traditions of
the Sikh faith. They allowed the annexors of the Sikh
Kingdom to enter the temple with their shoes on and
honoured General R.E.H. Dyer after he killed upwards
of 375 men and women at Jallianwala Bagh. This caused
enormous resentment amongst the Sikh masses. The
Akali movement of the 1920s succeeded in ousting the
mahants from control of Sikh shrines. Since the passing
of the Sikh Gurdwara Act in 1925 and the setting up of
the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee
(SGPC), the Akali Dal has been in firm control of all
gurdwaras in the Punjab including the Harimandir.
Periodically, water is drained out of the pool of
immortality and a massive ‘operation-cleansing’ {kaar
seva) is xmdertaken to remove the silt accumulated over
the years. Just about everyone, he he Sikh, Hindu or
Muslim is welcome to partake in the service. When it
was first undertaken in 1922, hundreds of thousands of
volunteers who participated swore that with their own
eyes they saw the white hawk of Guru Gobind Singh
flash down from the blue heavens and ahght on the
golden pinnacle of the dome. Such was the religious
fervoim that the Temple aroused amongst its worshippers.
The birthdays of the Sikh gurus and anniversaries
of the martyrdom of Guru Aijun and the ninth Guru,
Tegh Bahadur, are celebrated with great enthusiasm in
the Harimandir. The most elaborate of all celebrations,
however, is of the Hindu festival of Diwali. (Sikhs
celebrate all Hindu festivals). Sikh association with Islam
was kept alive till 1947 by the selection of the principal
22
My Bleeding Pitn^
]paHy^ 6f^ liyiim singei:a-^^ai^js) .
recently, almost; a quarter of; ^1? pil^ms coining . to
the Harimandir, were Hindus. A majonty of Hindus of
Western Fnnjab did in fact treat the Adz: GrqniA as their ;
religious scripture because they could understand its
language in preference to the Vedas or Upanishads which.
they could not.
What the Harimandir means to the devotees can
best be witnessed near the main entrance of the Temple,
Parties of pilgrims approach, merrily chatting and
quarrelling amongst themselves. Suddenly, the golden
dome of the Temple, rising above the sparkling blue
waters of the surrounding pool, hoves into view. They
fall silent as if spell-bound. Palms are joined in prayer;
some are overcome with emotion and tears flow down
their cheeks. They prostrate themselves on the ground
and murmur their thanksgiving.
The best time to visit the Temple is the early hours
of the morning (amrd-ue/ct — the ambrosial hour) as
keertan begins in the sanctum sanctorum — ^when the
night washed by dew and stars gives way to the dawn.
It is then that the message of Guru Arjun comes through:
Na koee bairee na begaana
Sagal sung hamree ban aiee
We have no enemies; for us there are no strangers.
Towards one and all we have goodwill.
In the recent past, voices of hate, emanating from
the vicinity of the Harimandir have driven most Hindu
worshippers away from the Temple. Hindu mobs have
smashed a portrait of the founder of the city, Guru Ram
Das; installed at the railway station. In and around the
yreinple,: Sikhs have spilt the blood of fellow Sikhs. People
23;
Khushwant Singh
have begun to ask: “Was it for this that Gurus Ram Das
and Aijun raised the Harimandir, the temple of God and
Man?”
How have things come to such a pass? A brief history
of the Sikhs would be illuminating.
24
3
The Sikh Psyche
T he Jews are not the only people in the world who
regard themselves as God’s chosen race. India’s 14
million Sikhs go two steps further and not only
believe themselves the chosen of God but destined by
divinity to rule, each one of them equal to 125,000 (sawa
lakh) lesser mortals and a one-man army ifauj). Both the
Jews and the Sikhs have known persecution; the Jews
for nearly 2000 years at the hands of the Christians and
Muslims, the Sikhs for about 300 years at the hands of
the Muslim conquerors and rulers of northern India. It
never got them down. A well-known Sikh historian
boasted: “Where there is one Sikh there is one Sikh,
where there are two Sikhs, there is an assembly of saints;
where there are five Sikhs, there is God.”
Not many Indians share the Sikh’s self-esteem. On
the contrary, they regard them as somewhat slow-witted
rustics, good only to be used as canon-fodder. “The only
25
Khushwant Singh
culture the Sikhs know is agricultiire,” they say. There
is some truth in these back-handed compliments. The
Sikhs are largely farmers and soldiers and excel in both
professions. They, more than any other people, have
brought the Green Revolution to India by trebling the
wheat yield of the acre and are much the most prosperous
peasantry of India. Next to farming, their favourite
profession is soldiering. During World War I, almost a
quarter of the British Indian army were Sikhs. Even
today, although under two per cent of the population of
India, they constitute over eight per cent of the armed
forces. They are also an outgoing and aggressive people
with an innate sense of one-upmanship — anything an
Indian can do, the Sikh can do better. Three of the first
nine Indians who scaled Mount Everest were Sikhs. More
than a third of all India’s athletic teams comprise
Sikhs. You can see them everywhere in India: driving
trucks, buses and taxis, (which they do with the reckless
abandon of Kamikaze pilots), shopkeepers, contractors,
industrialists, doctors, lawyers, teachers. Because of their
distinctive appearance (all wear turbans and beards),
they appear to be many more than they are. But the last
census estimated their numbers to be less than two per
cent of the population.
The word Sikh is derived from the Sanskrit Shishya
meaning disciple. The Sikhs are disciples of their ten
Gurus or teachers beginning with Nanak (1469-1539)
and ending with Gobind Singh (D 1708).
Nanak was born in a Hindu family. He was a
precocious child and like many other prophets, spent his
childhood taking out the family cattle for grazing. He
was indifferent to his studies and instead sought the
company of itinerant holy men, both Hindu and Muslim.
He was the despair of his parents as he would not attend
26
l^JSteediriS:
;0;the j^iiy4^siness:^d;^^and^i^
' bifi fatiiGr gave hiiQ in' fe6ding the poor
^en ' He ^ew te He a; young man,
arranged for Him and for a time ,^Hise^
hiawife and the two sons- she bore hini. tHedthe eearch
for the truth became 6verjk)wering and he abandoned:
his home to become a wanderer. He fasted, prayed smd
meditated! He pondered over the; inisery that the
centuries of wars between the Muslims and Hindus had
brought on the people of the Punjab. His study; of the
two religions also showed him that there was much in
common between Islam and Hinduism.
Nanak travelled all over India and is believed to
have gone on pilgrimage to Mecca. He spent his last
years preaching add singing hymns , and was acknow-
ledged by both Hindus a.nd Muslims to be a, (Hvinely
inspired prophet. ; \
Nanak’s religion was an austere monotheism which
disapproved of idol worship and the Hindu divisiou of
people into different castes. Above all, it was based on
the work ethic: strive, earn and share your earnings
with the less fortunate. He emphasised belief in the
institution' of. the Guru as a guide, community hymn-
singing and eating together., "
When Nanak died in A.D. 1539;! he had a folloydng
of people dissenting both from Hinduism and Islam. It
was left to his nine successors to, mould that following
into a: distinct community wth its 6'^ religious; beliefs
and traditions. V ,
Nan^. was succeeded by , a disciple but thereafter,
all the, ^rus came froni the same family , The fifth, Guru
collected the writings of His predecessors, added
• !{ "^hjhem hisdvhi compositions and so cbfopiled^^t^^^
r sm^re called ' Grdnth^(i\ie ^ok)! '(Hhru ArjUU’s
Khushwant Singh
growing following largely consisting of Hindu peasants
and tradesmen attracted the adverse attention of the
Mughal Emperor, The Guru was arraigned before the
Governor of Lahore and sentenced to death. He was
executed at Lahore in 1606. After the execution of their
Guru, the Sikhs began to change from a pacifist to a
militant sect. Aijun’s son, Hargobind, who succeeded him
as the 6th Guru, organised his followers into an army.
The final transformation of the Sikhs into a fighting
force came with the last of the ten gurus, Gobind Singh.
In 1673, young Gobind’s father, the 9th Gimu Tegh
Bahadur, was summoned by the Mughal Emperor to
Delhi and ordered to accept conversion to Islam. The
legend goes that he offered to show the Emperor a miracle
whereby no sword would be able to sever his neck. He
wrote some words on a slip of paper and tied it around
his neck with a piece of string. When the executioner cut
off his head, the message on the paper was read: Sis diya
pur sirr na diya — “I gave my head but not my faith”.
Gobind succeeded to the guruship at the tender age
of nine. Later he described his mission in the following
words; “to uphold right in every place and destroy sin and
evil; that right may triumph, the good may live and
tyranny be uprooted from the land.” Gobind realised that
to raise a fighting force from the peaceful followers of
Nanak, he had not only to teach them the use of arms but
also to convince them of the morality of the use of force.
“When all other means have failed, it is righteous to draw
the sword,” he said. “Light your understanding as a lamp
and sweep away the filth of timidity.” With this mission
in mind, he set about to ‘teach the sparrow how to hunt
the hawk and one man to have courage to fight a legion.’
On 13th April A.D. 1699 (New Year’s day by the
Hindu calendar), the young Guru assembled his Sikhs
28
My Bleeding Punjab
r
at Anandpur, a smalltown in the foothills of the
Himalayas arid baptised five of them known as Punj
Piyaras or the Five Beloved as members of a fighting
fraternity which he named the Khalsa or the pure. He
made the five_, who came from different Hindu castes,
drink amrit (nectar) out of the same bowl and gave them
new names with the suffix, '‘Singh’' (lion). He made them
take an oath to observe the five Ks, namely, to wear the
hair and beard unshorn (kesh)] to carry a comb (kangha)
in the hair to keep it tidy; to wear a pair of shorts
(kuehchaX worn at the time by soldiers; to wear a steel
bangle (kara) on the right wrist as a symbol of poverty;
and always to carry a sabre (kirpan) on their person. The
khalsa were also enjoined not to eat kosher meat
slaughtered in the Jewish-Muslim fashion when an
animal is bled to death, but only the meat of an animal
killed outright with one blow, not to smoke or chew
tobacco or consume alcoholic beverages and to refrain
from carnal knowledge of Muslim women. This was to
ensure that while fighting the Mughal aimiies, Sikhs
would respect the person of their enemy’s womenfolk.
After baptising the five, Gobind was in his turn baptised
by them. At the end of the ceremony they hailed each
other with the new greeting, ‘Wahe Guru Ji ka Khalsa —
Wahe Guru ji ki Fateh* (The Khalsa are the chosen of
God— Victory be to (jod).
Guru Gobind Singh gave final form to the Sikh faith.
He declared the institution of guruship at an end and
enjoined the Sikhs to look upon The Granth as their guide
and the symbolic representation of all their ten gurus.
Thus the creed of the Sikhs remained the pacifist one of
Nanak and the gurus whose writings appear in the holy
book, whereas the practice of the Khalsa became the
martial traditions of Guru Gobind, with their justification
29
Khushwant Singh
in the stirring message of the many lines composed by
Gobind. Those who did not accept the changes brought
about by Guru Gobind Singh began thereafter to be
described as Sahaj Dhari — ^those who take time to accept
the new faith or those who ‘take it easy’. However,
whether IChalsa or Sahaj Dhari, the vast majority of
Sikhs were converts from Hinduism and relations
between the commimities remained very dose. All said
and done, the Sikh scriptme drew its inspiration firom
the Vedas and the Upanishads and was construed as
a simplified form of Vedanta in the language spoken
by the people. Millions of Hindus preferred to recite The
Granth, which they could understand rather than their
own sacred texts which being in Sanskrit, they did not
comprehend. 'The dividing line between a Hindu and a
Sikh remained blurred. Sikhs visited Hindu places of
pilgrimage, observed Hindu fasts and festivals, denounced
cow-slaughter and continued to inter-marry with Hindus
of their own sub-castes. Virtually the only difference was
the observance of external forms and symbols of the
Khalsa. However, that one difference ^vas of vital
importance to the existence of the Khalsa Panth and the
only one which gave its members a sense of separate
identity and a sense of continuity of a proud tradition of
facing up to odds and overcoming them no matter what
it cost — a do or die tradition.
Guru Gobind Singh’s military career was not marked
with any spectacular victories. Apart firom winning a
few minor skirmishes in which he defeated the bill
chieftains, it was a long series of desperate battles fought
against heavy odds. He lost all his four sons; the elder
two were killed fighting, the two younger ones were
executed. But neither defeat nor adversity shook the
Guru’s resolve to carry through his crusade to destroy
30
;M^-Bimding Punjab}-:
tHfe oppression ; of the Mii^alsy ^lis
YictorjrTemained^iiasHak Ghcey^pi^ror^Ani^
beHeving that having; lost Wa sons and ha^g |)eeri d^
out - of the : Punjab, the ^ Gurti wduld'^be - willing to ni^e
terms, summoned him to Delhi. \Phe Guf u aiisweredithet:
summons' by a long ' compositipn in Persian caUed the
Zc^rTzamo-r-the epistle ofvictory. He listed many yof the ;
misdeeds of the Mughals and added a note of ddfianner
What use is it to put out a few sparks hhd; raise: a
mighty: flame instead ?’ - ^ >.< :•
Guru Gobind’s last days were spent ih central Incha
with the Emperor Bahadur Shah,; who . had sticceeded;
Aurangzeb on the throne of Delhi and was mbfe frieridly;
to him. While, halting at a small town called Nahderdin:
the state of Maharashtra) the Guru was murdered by
one of his own Muslim retainers. ^
Guru Gobind Singh did hot leave his foll6;vverS ■ at
kingdoni^ but he laid the foundations of the Sikh military
might by setting up a tradition' of reckless valour \vhich
became a distinguished feature of the Sikh soldiery. They
came to believe in the triumph of their cause as an article
of faith and like their Guru asked for no nobler end than -
death on the battlefield.
With clasped hands this boon 1 crave
When time comes to. end my fife 'i
; Let me fall in mighty strife. ; - - . . ^ . - . . : , rV
The Sikhs’ rise as a military power was spectacular.-
Under the leadership of, Guru Gobind’s dispiple, Banda
Bahadur, they laid waste much .of eastern Punjab right.
, within, canon shot pf , the Mughal capitaL Banda was;;;
captmed and, along; with his infant Son and 600, followers,
;; o^ecutedm But soon after his execution, bah^of;
31f .
Khushwant Singh
Sikh horsemen roamed across the plains of northern India
extending fi'om the Indus to the Ganges creating terror
and havoc. They measured swords with the Persian
invader. Nadir Shah and the Afgjian, Ahmed Shah
Abdali. The invaders blew up Sikh temples and butchered
Sikhs by the hundreds wherever they found them. But
it was like cleaving water with a sword. The Sikhs
retaliated by desecrating Muslim mosques, by slaughter-
ing pigs in them and looting their treasuries. Ultimately
they triumphed and under Ranjit Singh (1799-1839)
became rulers of the Punjab.
Maharajah Ranjit Singh (1780-1839) is the biggest
figure in Sikh history. He modernised his army with the
help of French officers of Napolean Bonaparte’s army,
extended the frontiers of the Punjab beyond Kashmir
into Tibet and inflicted several defeats on the erstwhile
conquerors of India, the Afghans and the Pathans. He
entered into a treaty of fnendship with the British which
helped him to keep their rapacious designs at bay. He
rebuilt the Temple at Amritsar with marble and covered
its domes with gold leaf. Since then it is popularly known
as the Golden Temple and is the holiest of Sikhs’ holy
shrines.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh symbolised in his person
some of the confusion resulting from the difficulty of
drawng the dividing line between the Sikh and the
Hindu. He was punctilious about observing the Khalsa
form and even required his European and Hindu courtiers
to wear their hair and beards unshorn, refrain from
eating beef and smoking tobacco. Although he had The
Granth read to him every day, he often worshipped in
Hindu temples and revered Brahmin priests. When he
realised he was dying, he wished that the Koh-i-noor
diamond be gifted away — not to the Harimandir in
32
My Bleeding Punjab
Amritsar but to the temple of Jagarmath at Puri. Wheri
he died, seven of his wives and concubines committed
Sati on his funeral pyre — a practice forbidden by the
Sikh gurus but sanctioned by Hindu tradition.
The death of Ranjit Singh was virtually the death
of the Sikh kingdom. His several sons from different
wives were on notoriously bad terms with one another.
The Khalsa army became a law unto itself. Provoked by
the British, they fought two wars against them and on
their defeat, the Sikh kingdom was annexed by the
British in 1849 A.D. The last Sikh ruler, Ranjit Singh’s
youngest son Dalip Singh, a boy of eleven, was exiled to
England.
With the downfall of the Sikh kingdom in 1849, the
fortunes of the Khalsa went into rapid decline. Thousands
of those who had joined their ranks for only the material
benefits that accrued, began to give them up and were
readily re-absorbed into the Hindu fold. It was generally
felt that the Khalsa would soon cease to exist. The Panth
was given a second lease of life by the British who decided
to capitalise on the reckless valour of the Sikh troops by
enrolling them en masse into the forces of the East India
Company.
Lord Dalhousie, who formally annexed the Sikh
kingdom observed in a note, “Their great gooroo Govind
sought to abolish caste and in a great degree, succeeded.
They are, however, gradually relapsing into Hindooism,
and even when they continue as Sikhs, they are yearly
Hindoofied more and more; so much so, that Sir George
Clerk (Governor of Bombay 1847-48) has said that in 50
years the sect of Sikhs would have disappeared.” It was
Dalhousie who laid down that the privileges meant for
Sikhs should only go to the Kesadhari Khalsa.
Sikhs did not joiu the uprising of 1857. Nor did the
33
Khushwant Singh
Dogras, Pathans or Punjabi Musalmans. None of them
regarded it as a war of independence as some Indian
historians have tried to make it appear and singled out
the Sikhs as the only community which did not join in.
Sikhs had good reason not to make common cause with
the so-called EGndustanees (U.P., Bihari and Bengali
soldiers of the Company), because it was these merce-
naries that the British had used to destroy the Sikh
kingdom only eight years earher. On 7th December, 1846,
the Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, proclaimed:
“We got the news that the Sikh army in the Punjab had
been defeated by the British army. Hearing the news I
ordered that a 21-g\m salute be Bred outside the Royal Red
Fort to celebrate the victory of the East India Company.”
The English rewarded the Sikhs for supporting them
in 1857 by granting them large estates in the new colonies
and making special provisions for their recruitment in
the army and the police. The economic advantages of
being Kesadhari Sikhs checked the disintegration of the
Sikh community and its lapse into Hinduism. On the
contrary, the last decade of the nineteenth century and
the first decade of the twentieth, saw a phenomenal rise
in the nmnbers of Kesadhari Sikhs. This was however,
providing the Khalsa a hot-house existence. It yet
remained to be seen whether there was anything inherent
in Khalsa tradition that would ensime continuation of
the Panth.
Kesadhari Sikhs continued to enjoy special privileges
in recruitment to services and separate representation
in legislatures throughout British rule. It has been
contended that the British assiduously tried to keep the
Hindus and Sikhs apart. It would be more accurate to
say that they did nothing to bring them closer together
and leaders of both communities allowed separatism to
34
/ grpw. inil8^ Swami^DayanaM
:at tiip mvitatipn ofiSiHi OT
Rarnajs in mi^y dties). He; was ye^^pritic^^^
gunis and described Guni N^ak as
.(impostor).. This ineritably eausedyridesp^^
among Sildis. ' To- countenance. Arya Samaj atteimpts^ te
bringvSikhs back into the several SmgA
Sachas were set up. In retaliation tp the : Arya S^aj
claim that Sikhs .y^ere Hindus, Kahan. Siiigh of l^abha
wrote a booklet entitled Hum Hindii Nahin Hain-^ m^
are not, Hindus v! This booklet was widely distributed
amongst the Sikhs. Between them, the Arya Samajs ancL
the Singh Sabhas widened the gulf between ..the ;, t^
connnunities. , - ■ i
Sildis remained the EngHsh rulers’ favourite sons
till World War I and were employed as soldiers and
policemen in distant parts of the British Empire. .; The
break came at the end of the War. Retired Sikh aoldiers
who had settled in British Gloluinbia (aiid spilled over to
Seattle and California) were subjected to indignities by,
their white neighbours and the governments of Canada
and the United States.; The British government did not
come tov* their help. Many returned to India very
embittered and formed militant leftist groups;; Cln the
13th of . April 1919, a large gathering at Jallianwala,
close to the Golden Temple, .consisting largely of Sikhs
was' dispersed by gun fire ordered by. General Dyer. It
left oyer .375 dead and thousands injured, The Sikite
finally turned their backs on the British and were drawii
into the freedom movement led by Mahatma Gancpn^
, ^ The immediate cause of thevSikh-British confrori-
tation was over the control of Sikh shrihes including the
.golden Temple which had become the-hereditary; fiefs of
; priestly fam^ who were .oftenmore; Hindu' thaii.Sikh:
35
Khushwant Singh
Under a newly formed party called the Akali Dal (army
of God) the Siklis launched a massive passive resistance
movement to take possession of their gurdwaras. Batches
of passive resistors of over 500 each led by Jathedars
marched out to break through pohce cordons. They were
savagely belaboured by the police, arrested and gaoled.
At one time, almost 50,000 Akalis were in prison.
Ultimately, the government yielded and enacted the Sikh
Gurdwara Act of 1925 taking the management of all
Sikh historic shrines out of the hands of the priests and
passing it to an elected body of the Sikhs known as the
Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandhak Committee (SGPC).
The Akali Dal remains to this day the Sikh’s main
political party and the SGPC their mini-Parliament. The
President of the SGPC and the Akali Dal enjoy enormous
prestige. Currently, Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra,
is President of the SGPC which now controls not only
the Sikh gurdwaras but also innumerable Khalsa schools,
colleges and clinics run by it. It has an annual budget of
Rs. 12 crores.
The Sikhs maintain with pride that despite their
close links with the British, once they threw in theinlot
with the freedom movement, in proportion to their
numbers, many more Sikh passive resistors were gaoled
and many more Sikh terrorists shot or hanged by the
British than members of any other Indian community.
By the time the Second World War broke out, the British
had good reason to suspect the loyalties of the Silchs.
They were not far wrong. The bulk of the ‘Indian National
Army’ including its first commander, which went over to
the Japanese under Subhash Chandra Bose, comprised
Sikhs.
In the years following World Wai' 11, the Sikhs were
caught between the contending claims of Indians for
36
: 'indepeiidiMice;
■ ae^ar^ Wtate of th^ owit^aki^iaiiy^
Vdp]^se^dIPfesta}i.■;TOe^vridt^
1047^, they suffered lieavily at tlieiaA^
oaihiimbered them ten in one ih the Punjdh.
line drawn by the British; coihmunity
into two leaw^ half of tHeni and their richest lahdsrjin
Pakistan. Ahnost to a.man, the Si^s marched \Qut>of
Pakistah to India a^ out poor Muslim
peasants Hving in East Punjab across the bordeh into
Pakistan.; It is estimated that in the summer of 1947
over 10 million crossed the IndorPak border in a two-
way traffic and almost a million were slain in the worst
religious strife in the history of the sub-continent, From
being the richest land owners of India, the Sikhs were
reduced to abject poverty. ;From 1947 began a Sikh
diaspora. -They spread out to different parts of India and
soon acquired a near monopoly of the road transport
business as truck,, bus and cab drivers and dealers in
auto-spare parts. Many, joined relatives living abroad in
Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, East Africa, England,
Canada and the Umted States (mainly in the Sacramento
and San Joaquin valleys). Almost 30 per cent of the
commumty cameHo live outside their home state, the
Punjab, the largest concentration being in Delhi. There
are over 300,000 living in Great Britain, and over 50,000
each in Canada and the United States. A popular story
has; it that when the American astronauts landed on the
: mbon,’ they encountered a Sikh iamily taking an evening
stroll. ‘‘When ffid. you get.here?” asked Armstrong. “We
: came here in 19,47 with the parfrtion of India”, replied
. tha Sikh moon-dweU^ v-. v
; separatisni
;; sown, by the .Sikhs • ovm.; gurus' when they gave
Khushwant Singh
them their own temples, their own scripture, their
distinct appearance, the common casteless name, Singh.
As long as Hindus and Sikhs felt threatened hy the
Muslims, they remained close to each other. The advent
of the British removed the danger of Muslim domination
and the two communities began to drift apart. The British
nurtured the feeling of separatism by recognising the
Sikhs as a people apart, providing them with separate
representation in the legislatures and specific privileges
in the services. All these were taken away by the rulers
of independent India in tlie name of democracy. At the
same time, the younger generation of Sikhs began to
question the traditions of the Khalsa and a growing
number began to cut off their long hair and shave their
beards. It was feared that in a few decades to come, the
Sikhs would lapse back into the Hindu fold and become
Hindus believing in Sikhism. There is in fact very little
beside the external hirsute form of the Khalsa Sikh which
distinguishes a Sikh from a Hindu. That and his
aggressiveness. It is said that a distinguished English
scholar while talking about modem India had referred
to Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. A member of the audience
asked him, “We’ve heard about the Hindus and the
Muslims, but who are these Sikhs you have been talking
about?” After pondering over the question, the learned
scholar rephed, “It is awfully hard to define the Sikhs.
They are a kind of vicious Hindus.”
Present day Sikhs’ grievances can be traced back to
the Partition and holocaust of 1947. 'The Sikhs were the
worst sufferers of the division of the coimtry. But for the
first time they also formd themselves in a majority in
several districts of eastern Punjab. Aggrieved elements
amongst them began to ask: “The Hindus got Hindustan,
the Muslims got Pakistan, what did we Sikhs get out of
38
My Bleeding Punjab
i.
all this?” Much as the Indian Government tried to
appease the Sikhs, it was never enough. Hie Bhakra
Dam with its irrigation canals, the electrification of
villages and the agriculture university in Ludhiana where
Norman Bourlaug developed new strains of Mexican
wheat produced the Green Revolution. The wheat yield
per acre was trebled and the Sikh farmer once again
became prosperous. But the clamour against discri-
mination and injustice continued to grow.
Another phenomenon arose simultaneously. Imme-
diately after Independence, an ever-increasing number
of young Sikhs began to give up growing their hair and
beards. This was more noticeable among Sikhs living
abroad. However, when they were in larger, compact
units as in Singapore, Burma and East Africa, the
incidence of apostasy was lower than in coimtries like
Canada, the United States and England where it was
rare to meet a second generation Sil^ migrant who was
a IQialsa. In the preface of my first short history. The
Sikhs, published in London in 1953, 1 wrote:
“The chief reason for my writing an account of my
people is the melancholy thought that contemporary with
my labours are being written the last chapters of the
story of the Sikhs. By the end of the century, the Sikhs
themselves will have passed into oblivion.”
There was an immediate uproar among the Sikhs.
“I don’t wish to touch that book”, Bhai Vir Singh said to
someone who sought his opinion. Without having read
it, M^ter Tara Singh also condemned it at many public
meetings. After he had had a chance to go through it
however, he wrote to me saying that he agreed with my
prognostication of the fixture of the Khalsa Panth and
39
Khushwant Singh
asked me whether there was anything we could do about
it.
I had many meetings with Master Tara Singh and
he, along with some others including me, came to the
conclusion that if we had a State in which we were in
the majority, we could perhaps evolve educational
curricula whereby the Sikh religion and the Khalsa
tradition could be kept alive among the younger
generation without violating the spirit of secularism to
which the Sikhs, along with all other Indians, had
committed themselves. This was, in fact, the genesis of
the movement for the Punjabi Suba. The linguistic
argmnent was only the sugar-coating for what was essen-
tially a demand for a Sikh majority state. After prolonged
agitation, the Suba was conceded and came into being in
1966. As far as I was concerned, this was all the S ikhs
could have legitimately asked for in a federal democracy.
Thereafter, all chief ministers of the state were Sikhs
and Sikhs were fiilly represented in the central cabinet;
many were appointed governors of states. Two Air Chief
Marshals of the Indian Air Force have been Sikhs. In
1982, Giani Zail Singh was elected President of the
Repiiblic, the first Sikh to become Head of State. Even
this did not appease the Akalis.
It is a strange coincidence that about the same time
as there was a revival of religious fundamentalism in the
Islamic world, came the revival of aggressive Hinduism
which in its turn triggered off revivalism amongst the
Sikhs. In their religious zeal, Arab Sheikhs poiued money
into India and succeeded in persuading some untouchables
in South India to convert to Islam. Orthodox Hindus
were alarmed and poured in more money to comteract
these moves. With the Sikhs, the challenge did not come
firom Islam but firom Hinduism and the Sikh revivalist
40
My Bleeding Punjab
movement dwelt on the differences between Sikh
traations and Hindus.. It started
singers (roogis) and preachers going out into Sikh villages
to rekindle the spirit of Guru Gobind Singh. «
Sikh fundamentalism and the minority complex
added fuel to Sikh grievances. Its extreme manifestation
was the proclamation in 1969 of the Sovereign Republic
of Khalistan by Dr, Jagjit Singh Chauhan, once hlnance
Minister of the Punjab Government, then living m self-
imposed exile in London. Most people regarded it as a
sick Sikh joke. But the movement won supporters among
Sikhs settled in England, Canada and the United States.
Among the most prominent was Ganga Singh Dhillon, a
prosperous businessman living in Washington D.C.
Khalistan’s printed passports and fake currency notes
became an even sicker and bigger Sikh joke.
Both Jagjit Singh Chauhan and Ganga Singh Dhillon
assumed that since I had written with enthusiasm of the
Khalsa tradition, of Punjab as the homeland of the Sikhs
and had supported the agitation for the Punjabi Suba, I
would go along with them in their demand for Khalistan.
I disabused their minds as quickly as I could. Chauhan
could do no better than denounce me as a chamcha of the
Indian government. With Dhillon I had quite an exchange
of correspondence on the subject in 1981 and 1982. 1 had
denounced his description of Sikhs as a separate nation
^d \mtten that far from being discriminated against,
the Sikhs enjoyed privileges far in excess of what would
warranted by their numbers (under two per cent of
the population of the country). We agreed to confront
each other across a table. I entered a caveat that before
TsSf ? we must agree on certain
essential facts. I wrote to him:
In your articles you make a large number of
Khushwant Singh
assertions which are totally at variance with my
reading of Sikh history... the demand for Khalistan is
based on an erroneous interpretation of the word
‘nation’ which had an entirely different connotation
when used by historians you quoted and acquired a
sinister innuendo after the Muslim League demand
for Pakistan. The demand is manifestly mischievous
and goes against the interests of the Sikhs. It is wrong
of you to dismiss the strong opposition to this demand
among the Sikhs themselves as being bom out of fear
of the government or the Hindu majority. Nor, do for
that matter, people like me oppose it to seek any favour
from the government. We have the interests of the
Khalsa at heart as much as you and your supporters
in the States or Canada. Only we happen to be, as it
were, on the scene, and you, despite your emotional
attachment to your ancestral faith, live in comfort in
a foreign country. For you this may be an academic
exercise; for us it is hard reality.”
Our correspondence became acrimonious. In my last
letter to him I wrote that he should stop polluting the
waters of the holy Ganga and change his name from
Ganga Singh to Potomac Singh after the river which
runs along Washington. I wrote:
“Dear Dhillonji,
Both you and I were compelled to leave our homes
in Western Punjab because some Indian Muslims
declared themselves a separate nation and established
the Islamic State of Pakistan. Dhillonji, you might
recall that even at that time, as there are today,
Dhillon Muslims and Dhillon Hindus, who spoke the
same language as you did, ate the same food and lived
exactly the way you did. The only difference between
42
My Bleeding Punjab
them and you was that you worshipped in a gurdwara
while they prayed in mosques or temples. Did you
then believe that the Dhillon jats belonged to three
different nationalities?
Dhillonji, on Partition you decided to renounce
your Indian nationality and settled in America. Most
of us came to independent India to start a new life.
You prospered as an American citizen; we prospered
as citizens of free India and once again became the
most prosperous community in the country. There may
be some amongst us who feel they could do better and
they air their grievances as citizens of a free country.
But we are happy to remain Indian citizens and do
not wish to suffer the same fate as Indian Muslims
who clamoured for Pakistan. We feel that the logical
and inevitable outcome of your propaganda of separate
nationhood is a manifesto of Sikh annihilation. What
kind of guru-ka-Sikh are you? It is ironic that while
you should bear a Hindu name, Ganga Singh, you
claim to belong to a separate nation and advise us
Sikhs who belong to the land thi'ough which the Ganga
flows to be disloyal to our motherland. I suggest that
one amrit vela you take a dip in the icy cold waters
of your neighbouring river and rechristen yourself
Potomac Singh Dhillon. I remain your ex-brother
Ganga-uasi.”
Khushwant Singh
In December 1982, the self-styled President of
Khalistan, Dr Jagjit Singh Chauhan, told a pressman in
London that “Khalistan will be born within five years”.
The 54-year old doctor with a snowwhite beard like that
of Santa Claus said that the moment to strike will be
when Mrs Gandhi dies or is taken ill. He dismissed the
43
Khushwant Singh
Akalis as “moderates”, and an exhausted people. “I’ll go
and suggest that people try my cure”, he proclaimed,
“because I am a doctor. I have faith in the Lord, we will
win.”
44
1
The Bhindrariwale
Phenomenon
T O go back a little in time, the situation in the Punjab
actually began to be fouled up while the Akali
government under Prakash Singh Badal was in
power (dune 1977-February 1980). It began with, a
confrontation between the break-away sub-sect., of the
Nirankaris and followers of Jarnail Singh Bhindrariwale,
a non-descript youngster who had been named head . of
the Dam Dami Taksal, itself of marginal importance'
among the Sikhs. In turns, the Congress inokili tbpiwale)
and the Akalis (neeliyaan pagganwale) tried to exploit
him by feeding his vanity. In due course, he became a
formidable force and began to call the . ^hots. . ' f . ,
: . In. order to understand the phenomenon ; of
BHhdranwale, we should Imow soihethihg about the man
and the circumsta^ which made it pbssible for a
'WM
Khushwant Singh
yesterday’s nobody to become a somebody who could
threaten the integrity and unity of a nation of over 800
million people.
Jamail Singh was the youngest of the seven sons of
a peasant farmer, Joginder Singh, a man of very modest
means. He was bom in 1947 in the village of Rodey
(Moga district). The family was so poor that often it
could not buy fodder to feed their buffalo. Jarnail Singh
was able to study only upto the primary class when, in
1965 he was handed over to Sant Gurbachan Singh
IChalsa, who ran a religious centre (taksaal or mint) in
the village of Bhindran (hence Bhindranwale), known as
the Dam Dami Taksaal, hallowed by its association with
the last of the ten Sikh gurus, Gobind Singh. A year
after joining the taksaal, Jamail was married to Pritam
Kaur. They had two sons.
Jamail Singh made up for his brief schooling by an
extensive study of the Sikh religious scriptures. He had
an excellent memory and ■was soon able to quote texts
when preaching sermons. On the death in a car accident
on 3rd August, 1977 of Sant Kartar Singh (who had
succeeded Sant Gurbachan Singh), Jamail Singh was
elected head of the Dam-Dami Taksaal. With the
succession came the prefix Sant (Saint) and the suffix
Bhindranwale, to give him the full title by which he was
later known, Sant Jamail Singh Bhindranwale.
Within a short period of becoming head of the
taksaal, Jamail Singh came to be recognized as the most
effective instrument for the renaissance of Sikh
fimdamentalism. He toured villages exhorting Sikh youth
to return to the spartan traditions of the Khalsa started
by Guru Gobind Singh: not to clip their beards, abstain
from smoking, drinking and taking drugs. Wherever, he
went, he baptised young men and women by the
46
: My Bleeding
hundreds. An integral phrtihf Jdis preachm
Sikhs sHouldjj-hs ^hadvheeh-erijdined; 1^^
guru, Gobmd Sm^,{be:skasirad^
Besides the kirpan (sword);;^^whith;is-,9?l^ \o^
essential symbols of the Kh^^-:faith^;^d^:e^
followers to carry modern fire-ai’ms like rifles ^
He himself always carried a revolve.i^ ih a holster.^
belt charged with bullets: :
Jamail Singh became important enough to be sopight
after by political parties. The first in di^ andjexpjmf^
potential as a political force during the Janhta i:*e^me:
was Giani Zail Singh, who as leader of the Cahgnesscim
the Punjab thought that with Bhindranwaie’s; sUpppH
he might be able to oust the Akalis from their strangie-
hold over the Sikh gurdwaras. Little dfid Gianiji dhem
reahze that in a few years to come, he would be hoist ori.
his own petard.
Meanwhile the Akali party met in Anahdpur ahd
passed a resolution setting but demands of the ; Sil^s
which could be construed as leading to Khalistahi Thesei
included the exclusive possession of Chandigarh ' as tHe
Capital of the Punjab (it is to this day jointly shared!i>y
Punjab and Haryana), readjustment of theVStaW^
boundaries to incorporate Piinjabi speaHng areas which
had been given to the neighbouring sthtes of Himachal;
Pradesh and Haryana as well as a larger shard bf ; the
river waters which passed throu^; its 'iefritdry/>i\With
these, the Akalis also demanded more autonomy for thb
state. The most controversial pait of the fesoluiioh w^^
that although the readjustment of boundaries asked fph
would reduce the Sikh popidaflon of Punjab t^^^^
it demanded a clear statement from the gbvernmdht t^
in the reconstructed stathThe ypide of the Sik^^^
be pfedoniinant
Khushwant Singh
The political scene blew up with the bloody
confrontation between Jarnail Singh’s followers and the
Nirankari Sikhs at Amritsar on 13th April, 1978. The
chief difference between them and orthodox Sikhs is that
whereas the latter recognize only ten gurus now
symbohzed in the Granth Sahib, the Nirankaris recognize
a succession of gurus. Besides worshipping a living guru
(anathema to the orthodox), the Nirankaris also have
two sacred texts of their own which contain passages
which the orthodox regard as offensive to their gurus
and the Granth Sahib. In November 1973, the SGPC
passed a formal resolution declaring Nirankaris as
renegades. Since then there have been many clashes
between the orthodox Sikhs and Nirankaris, but on the
Baisakhi of 1978, a procession of Sikhs including a large
number of Bhindranwale’s followers on their way to a
Nirankari assemblage were fired upon. Thirteen were
killed, including one Fauja Singh whose widow, Amaijit
Kaur, later became one of the leaders of the extremists.
The Nirankaris charged with murder were subsequently
acquitted on the ground that they had acted in self-
defence. Thereafter, there was no-let up in -violence
against them and their sympathizers. The head of the
sect, Baba Gimbachan Singh, was slain in Delhi on 24th
April, 1980. Subsequently hardly a week went by when
some Nirankari or other did not fall victim to the -wrath
of the orthodox Khalsa.
Why these -violently fundamental elements came to
be aligned wth the Akalis and how the Akalis managed
to sustain a morcha and persuade upwards of 200,000
volunteers to court arrest needs to be explained. The
two groups have not very much in common in their
objectives. The Akalis represent the interests of the
comparatively well-to-do peasant-farmers who prospered
48
wi& Gre§ii ^ >
pQv^sy frnTn t-Vift. Goilgrisss ,8Ji(i jsiisiLirs' fiirtiicr sgluc^^py^r,
prospsrity tlirougli tli6 Uber^ supply of ^ye^.wa
electric power O^oth g^efated m
-to set up agro-mdus^s
process their abuhdaotvharye^tsr o :ca^ ; ^pd(: Ootton*;-^^
fHindamentaiists who eiiihra<^ Bhmdr^’?^^
the Mh(md jfCeerimi Jathds:^a^
Federation hire inore conceited :witli{:reta^n
hegemony in the Punjab by ,emphasi 2 dng; Sikh' separa'£
teness from the Ifindus and.maldhg sure that.t^^^^
scale influx of I^du agricultural labour fl:om '^
of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar/ which has ^ready:^
the Sikh proportion of Punjab’s popiflation.:^ to 52
per cent, is halted. They , made common cause,
Akalis and between them cooked up a, list of grieyances-^;|:
religious, political and economic, -iibne of wMch:.tliey %^
bothered about when the Akali; party ruled thie fstatb, ,
in Akali archives for eight years, was hauled ptit and "
made into a charter of Sikh demahife’ Mthough moderate'
Akali leaders like Sant Lohg:ow,^, G.S^ Tohijarand,'
Prakash Singh Badal attempted to water do^^: the
demands till only two substantive ones femaihed,
declaration of Chandigarh as the exclusive capit^ of the ;
Punjab with a few nunor readjdstmenite of bomid
with Haryana, and reference h> a Supreme C
the matter of the re-aflpcatibn of rivpt’/ W
fimdamentalists re^ed. ;to'' "^e^^ "dnythii^ ; short - df}"
permanent Sikh hegemony dyer an aufenQrhouWd^
_ In 1981 things begap, to hot
Mhister Indira Gandhi met the A^H leaders in beihi and
, ; b^shedpff iheir deni^ds ^
ty;^pdndng their offensive.
Khushwant Singh
was a wave of bomb attacks, arson and killings. Extremists
of the Dal Khalsa desecrated several Hindu temples by
throwing heads of cows in them. In September, they
hij acked an Indian Airlines plane and followed it up by an
orgy of senseless killings. Their most notable victim was
Lala Jagat Narain, owner of the most widely read chain of
papers in the Punjab, who was murdered on 9th September.
The situation continued to deteriorate. In August
1982 the Akalis declared a holy war (Dharm Yudh)
against the government and appointed Sant Harchand
Singh Longowal as the dictator to mastermind the
offensive to fill Punjab’s jails. By October, almost 30,000
Akalis were behind bars. Later, they stormed the
Parliament. Four policemen were slain.
There was a succession of agitations: nahar roJio, rail
roko, rasta roko, kam roko and the continuance of the
Dharam Yudh which had little dharma in it with the
yudh often descending to cowardly slayings of innocent
Nirankaris and Hindus.
At last the government woke up to the very serious
situation that had been created and released all Akali
prisoners and invited them for a fresh round of talks.
The Akalis remained adamant and insisted that the
Prime Minister first accept their demands or they would
carry on their agitation to disturb the Asian Games in
Delhi. The government over-reacted by asking the police
of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi to prevent such
demonstrations. Every Sikh travelling by rail or road to
Delhi was stopped, searched and interrogated. For the
first time the Sikhs were discriminated against. The
unfortunate precedent set at the Asiad was invoked
whenever ah imtoward incident involving a Sikh took
place. Now the Sikh is in fact discriminated against
wherever he happens to be.
50
: My Bleeding Pun^^
bhly once in 1981 when the Akalis
. their agitation. Oh that occasion his
speech W against me. He had been
, ; M I had written something about his spreading
hatred Hindus and Sikhs. He denied my
to the 30,000
that he preached the gospel of the gurus
Sikhs to return to the spartan traditions of
: a weekend listening to tapes of his speeches
delivered to a succession of jathaas before they left the
. Golden ?r^ to offer themselves for arrest. The friend
who gave them, to me told me that they were available
^'v,m the Punjab and eagerly listened to by
. Bhindrahwale’s innumerable admirers.
^ usually refered to the Hindus in
pejorative terminology as topian ivaley (cap-wearers),
dhotian w^ wearers), monay (clean shaven) or
, mahaaskaas {word used for Arya Samajists). Nirankaris
; were my^ably referred to as narakdhaaris — seekers
of hell. Governmental authority was described as Hindu
. scLmraj da danda — ^the stick of Hindu imperialism. Indira
. Gandln was sometimes referred to as Bibi Indra, Indra
Bhdzh bat mostly as Panditani or Panditaan di kuri —
; .daughter, of Brahm Darbara (without Singh) was
; .always spoken of -as Zakaria— the Mughal governor of
; -the Punjab who tried to exterminate the Sikhs.
a Sikh and knew as
the Sikh scripture as Bhindranwale, was
• ir castigated for dyeing his beard and being amongst the
2 . chappy waley-— dusters of sandalsv ^d for
I J both Z^ and Darbara, Bhindranwale quoted the
Khushwant Singh
‘Dharam jaavey taan jaavey, Meri kursi kithey na
jaavey ’ — if my faith goes, I don’t care, so long as I don’t
lose my chair.
Bhindranwale not only preached , hatred, he also
preached violence. The one theme that ran through all
his speeches was the need for Sikhs to be shastradhari —
armed — not only with a kirpan which is understandable
since it is an integral part of the Khalsa tradition, but
also have firearms, with or without licences. Did the
sixth guru, Hargobind, ask Emperor Jehangir for arms
licences? Did Giuru Gobind Singh ask Emperor Aurangzeb
for them? he asked. He alleged that Hindus were allowed
to keep guns without licences. He nabaed police officers
who were involved in killings, described them as drinkers
of Sikh blood and exhorted his audience to punish them
by finishing off their families. For the Nirankaris he had
no compassion whatsoever. He lumped them with
desecrators of the Granth Sahib who deserved to be sent
to hell. The Nirankari Guru was warned that he may
meet the same fate as his father.
Bhindranwale promised his audience the establish-
ment ol Khalsa Raj. He compared the present times with
the worst days of Mughal tiyanny: “If a handful of Sikhs
could then triumph over the Mughals, it should not be
difficult for the Sikhs to oust the government of today.”
He exhorted villagers to arm themselves and be ready
for action when the time for action came.
If this was not preaching hatred and violence, I
don’t know what else it was.
Bhindranwale denied that he was a firkaprastha —
commxmalist. According to him it was the mahaashaa
press (Hindu owned newspapers) and the government
which were communal and anti-Sikh. In the same breath
52
My Bleeding Punjab
he threatened to take the iives of 5,000 innocent Hindus
if any of his followers came to harm. If this was his
understanding of the teachings of the Sikh gurus then
either he or I had totally missed their message. I was
' under the impression that the essence of Sikhism was
Sarbat da bhala — goodwill towards all — and na koee
bairee na begaana, sagal sang-hamree ban aaee (For us
there are no enemies and no strangers, all are our
friends). If Bhindranwale was right, our gurus must have
been wrong.
After many hours of listening to the tapes, what
disturbed me most was the highly charged, hothouse
atmosphere that obviously pervaded the precincts of the
Golden Temple. It had no relevance to what was going
on in India and the world outside. Even more disturbing
was the realisation that Bhindranwale had emerged as
a powerftd leader and had evidently gained acceptance
among a large section of Sikh youth. He spoke a language
that Punjabi rustics understood and which fired his semi-
literate urban followers and students. He fabricated facts
to suit himself and in the fervid, hate-loaded milieu in
which he held forth, no one dared to question him. His
was not the voice of reason, but of unthinking passion
unconcerned with the tragic consequences that engulfed
his entire community and country. “It would be a sad
day if the people of India and the world come to believe
that Bhindranwale speaks for all Sikhs,” I wrote. ‘Tie
does not. And by the grace of our ten gurus and Granth
Sahib, I hope he never will.”
53
5
Plain Speaking on the
Punjab
B hindranwale’s influence,unfortunately, continued to
grow and the situation in Punjab continued to
deteriorate, largely due to the passivity of the central
government which shied away from talking with the Akali
leaders and taking bold decisions on the issues involved.
On 28th April, 1983, I made a long speech in the Rajya
Sabha attempting to analyse events in the Punjab and
suggesting what could be done to prevent matters from
deteriorating even further. This is the text of my speech:
I would crave your indulgence for being somewhat
emotional on the subject because this does concern me
primarily as a- Sikh, Punjabi and an Indian. Or
perhaps, I should put it the other way round. It
concerns me pnmarily as an Indian, then as a Punjabi
54
My Bleeding Punjab
and as a Sikh. I will try to give as objective a picture
as I can of the Punjab situation as it existed yesterday
and the way it has developed today.
I will try, at the same time, to draw yoiu* attention
to where we have gone wrong in handling this issue
and suggest some methods by which we can rectify
this situation. The situation yesterday, and by that I
mean a year ago, was that we were under the
impression that the Akalis did not enjoy the support
of the Sikh community, that the morcha that they had
launched would peter out in a short while. We had
also assumed that the Dal Khalsa and the so called
National Council of Khalistan only consisted of lunatics
and would be brought to heel in a very short time.
It is quite obvious that we were wrong on both
these counts. The Akalis have been able to mount a
morcha and send a lakh of people to jail and it seems
that they have the capacity to continue this morcha
indefinitely. We were also wrong in assuming that we
could control the Dal Khalsa and the extremist
elements. They have now not only continued to take
a toU of life but have also raided armouries and thus
got more arms in their hands.
The movement has expanded. That was evident
firom the rasta roko morcha. It was not restricted to
the Akalis but, at their request, or at their bullying,
entire villages turned out to block roads and included
Hindus as well as Muslims. You will see that in the
Punjabi papers. This has really assumed very serious
proportions.
What action has the government taken to meet
this situation?
You have outlawed the Dal Khalsa and the
National Council of IHialistan. I support and welcome
55
Khushwant Singh
this move. It should have been done even earlier. But
let us not get excited about threats to life. I have been
on their hit list for over one year and I am here in
good health standing before you. They are hluffers
and bullies. We need not take them too seriously.
The more distressing thing is that the dialogue
between you and the Akalis has gone on for seven or
eight long months, with people shuttling between Delhi *
and Amritsar. Sardar Swaran Singh, the Maharaja of
Patiala and various other people have been named as
intermediaries. While issues have been narrowed down
and practically nothing remains to be settled,
discussions go on endlessly. I have yet to understand,
or I am perhaps too simple-minded to imderstand,
what exactly you are discussing and what exactly are
the remaining obstacles. Why can’t you get together
in a room and settle them in a few hours. As Advani Ji
suggested, and he has been privy to these discussions,
there is very little now to hold you back.
I would also like to enforce the point that by
announcing your decisions not ta the people you are
negotiating with but to others was poUtically a wong
move and counter-productive. It showed lack of
courtesy to the people with whom you were dealing.
You are paying the price for it. It hurt them. They
resented it and hardened their attitude towards you.
It was totally vuuaecessaiy. You could have sununoned
them and said, “we concede these demands,” which
wore in any event of very little consequence.
Now, I come to the situation as it exists today.
Syed Shahabuddin has quite rightly pointed out that
there has been bungling by the State Government in
handling this issue. It seems quite obvious to all of us
that either they are imwilling to handle this issue or
56
My Bleeding Punjab
they are unable to do so. I do not think that, the state
government is entirely at fault. The central government
must take its share of the blame too. You have mono-
polised political dealings with the Akali Party aiiddeft
the state government no option to deal with them
except with the danda. The only function of the
Barbara Singh government is to wield the danda, and
you know that such treatment does not yield dividends
with any people, particularly a people like the Sikhs.
If you had given Barbara Singh a Httle more leeway
and brought him into the discussions, I am sure his
stature would have risen. As it is, we have a very
clean chief minister though of doubtful ability as an
administrator. He is totally lacking in charisma and
qualities of leadership. In addition, you are depriving
him of power to negotiate.
You have really put him in a very invidious
situation. You saw what happened on the aftermath
of the rasta roko agitation. A judicial inquiry was
promised. Today, 20 days later, no such judicial inquiry
has been started. Why?
I come to the last and the most serious incident —
the murder of A.S. Atwal. It was an act of sacrilege
just outside the premises of the Golden Temple. We
are not still quite sure whether the shots were fired
fi:om within the Temple or whether the culprit was in
the Temple or outside in the bazaar. This act has
been condemned by everyone, including Sant Longowal
and even Bhindranwale. I mention this specifically for
the reason that .unfortunately this gallant officer’s
name was linked with the so-called encounters in which
many people have lost their lives; he was a marked
man by Bal Khalsa.
You must know what Amnesty International has
57
Khushwant Singh
had to say about encounters in this country. They are
faked and are, in fact, murders. The police organise
them to liquidate people whom they do not like. If this
unfortunate officer’s name was linked with such
encounters in the popular mind, it was obvious he
was a marked man.
I mention this specifically and other incidents that
have taken place giving rise to the complaint that the
Golden Temple has become the sanctuaiy for criminals.
We do not have any specific evidence that this is so.
It is, Mr Home Minister, your word and your
government’s word against the word of the Akali
leaders. They deny that criminals are getting sanctuary
in these temples. I know you are an honourable man.
I also know they are honourable men. I have no reason
to distrust them. I emphasize this point because I
suspect you are trying to create a situation to provide
justification for the police to enter the Golden Temple.
I am wth all the other members that no place of
worship has any right to harbour criminals, and if it
is the Golden Temple, it cannot be made an exception.
But as a statesman, it is your duty to realise the
volatile situation that exists in Punjab. If you want to
send the police in, don’t do it at this time. I know you
are a wise man. I am sure you know that whatever
the rights or wrongs of the situation, it will lead to a
blood-bath in the Punjab.
Finally and with due humility, not beinga politician,
I would suggest a few steps that might be taken. It is
evident that the Punj ab government is unable to control
the situation, and as I have said, I don’t blame the
Punjab government entirely. I think you have to share
that blame.
58
My Bleeding Punjab
Don’t you think it is time to dismiss Darbara
Singh and declare President’s rule ?
Don’t you think it is time that you entered into
negotiations with the Akali party, the only party which
speaks for the vast majority of Silchs?
You have no option but to deal with the Akalis.
It would be an act of statesmanship and wisdom to
enter into some kind of dialogue with them. Either
you will do it or these people in the Opposition will do
it. If the Akalis are not allowed to share power in
Punjab, there will be no peace.
Finally, when you have to tackle a thorny problem,
you must not tinker with it. It is time that you grasp
it boldly with a firm hand otherwise the lessons are
quite clear. Today the blood-letting is confined to
Punjab. If you don’t come to a settlement soon, it will
not remain restricted to the Punjab. There will be a
reaction elsewhere. There is boimd to be. If innocent
people are kiUed in Punjab, innocent people are bound
to be killed in Delhi, Haryana and elsewhere. Once
that happens, Mr Home Minister, we will have history
repeated. What happened in 1946 and 1947 will
happen again. Neither you nor I want that. A handful
of thugs will indulge in killings on that side; another
handful will on this side, leading to movement and
exchange of populations. God forbid if it ever takes
place. It is time for you to act now.
O n 8th August 1983, as the situation continued to
become more alarming by the day, I addressed the
Rajya Sabha again:
59
Khushwant Singh
It would appear that we are like needles of gramo-
phones caught in one groove. It used to be Assam.
Now it is the Punjab. In the speeches of the govern-
ment, the Opposition, and in fact, all of us, we have
been saying the same thing over and over again for a
year-and-a-half. I hope that now somebody either from
the government or the Opposition will move this needle
forward to something different and more positive. Quite
obviously, the prime responsibility for this falls on the
government. I rely on the statements of the Prime
Minister, the Home Minister, the Chief Minister of
Punjab and Rajiv Gandhi to make the following
comments, largely to put the record straight.
The Prime Minister has gone on record to say
that at different times the Akalis have been adding to
their demands. To the best of my knowledge they
made a concise list of 45 demands and to this day
they have not added a single one to these 45. It has
also been stated that the religious demands of the
Akalis have been conceded. Yes, two or three very
peripheral demands have been conceded. But the basic
demand of an All India Gurdwara Act has been
hanging fire. All the time we have been told that
consultations are going on with the states. The main
gurdwaras involved have agreed to this Act. I do not
understand why then this is taking so much time. I
know that our telephone system is very faulty. But
surely it does not take a year-and-a-half to get the
reactions of the states and go ahead with something
which exclusively concerns the Sikh community.
Much has been said about the misuse of
gurdwaras for harbouring criminals. Mr Home
Minister, if you have any concrete evidence of criminals
being harboured inside the Golden Temple, you should
60
place; it on thecTable of tHe: House. ^M|orintijbe,
of 40 men was given to the Al^^i DnE It
that at least four of these;40 inen; were not even^h
in the country: They were abroad:! k . a
If you have been to the Golden Teinplb, as;l lthbw I
you have, it has several entrances. At eacH-bf these <
there are large number of armed -pohcembn ah^^^^
security officers who know by photographs and by;
contact who these criminals are. How is it that in .alh^ ;
this time you have not been able to lay ybiir hand bn ; :}
even one of them? What kind of a government or police ;
are you running when a senior police officer is, killed
outside the gates of the Golden Temple and his •
assassin gets away in broad daylight? Is this the kind
of evidence that you are going to giye us and then say ,
that the Golden Temple is being misused?.; ; : ■
You have also said frequently that -the Akali,:..
leadership has been very soft towards extremists
and Khalistani elements. I concede that at one time;
they were. But in recent months they have strongly
criticised and condemned all these acts of violence;
The latest reports talk of foreign interference. We. all ;.,
know that when a doctor does not know what is wron^, ;
with his patient, he invariably says that it is some.:
kind of viral fever. The same thing is happening here:
If we cannot get at the root of something, then we pay -
it is the C.I.A. Have we got any evidence of C.I. A.
interference? More recently, it waspaid that Pakistah
is creating Nihangs, or at least: making Muslims into
Nihangs and sending them into the Punjab;
Minister, haye you caught any one- qf, these , so-calldd;
V PaK^ani Nihangs? The^ point simply;ds,; - ^
^ ; : ihak^^ insinuations . About: foreign. ngeUts-
! ^ :r ihS^tr^mg the AkaHs’ !. ranks:Aand: Al^is: heing;
Khushwant Singh
influenced by them, you are insinuating treason. You
are accusing Akalis of being treasonous to their
country. As you well know, the record of the Akali
party in patriotism and sacrifice is perhaps much better
than that of your party or the Opposition parties put
together.
Mr Sethi, you, more than anyone else, have got
into this gramophone record groove saying “government
doore are always open.” Which person with self-respect
who has this stigma of treason put on him, is going to
enter these doors that you always talk of being kept
open?
Having said all this, let me say clearly again that
I have absolutely no brief for the Akalis. I feel that
when they say that they condemn Khalistan, and do
not support the demand, it is not enough. Words must
be followed by actions. They must stop talking the
language of separatism. It is time the Alcalis came out
more categorically in condemning separatist tendencies.
They also must condemn violence in more positive
terms. They must let Nirankaris off the hook because
this confi'ontation has gone on far too long. Nirankaris
have offered to expunge offensive references to Sikhism
from their books. This offer should have been accepted
long ago and something done to come to a settlement
with them.
Basically, there are only three issues that remlain
to be settled. One is the readjustment of boundaries,
the second the river waters dispute and the third the
AH India Gurdwara Act. You have offered a commission
on the bormdary question. I do not think this is an
honest offer. It has been settled once and for all that
Chandigarh must go to Punjab. It is equally clear that
you cannot divide Abohar and Fazilka from Punjab
62
My Bleeding Punjab
for geographical and historical reasons; this is one
country where you cannot have a long corridor. This
settlement should be announced as soon as possible.
There is also the question of giving money to Haryana.
Nobody disputes that. If Punjab gets Chandigarh,
Haryana must geb-money to build a capital of its own.
There is also the river waters question. I do not
understand what we are cribbing about. You want to
refer this to a river water tribunal. The Akalis have
laid their cards on the table. They say ^Give it to the
Supreme Court; we will accept whatever verdict it
gives.’
Then, there is the All India Gurdwara Act, For
some reason unknown to me and to any one else, the
government seems to be dragging its feet. It is
extremely painful that here on this one great problem
which should unite the Opposition and the govern-
ment, we are taking purely partisan attitudes. Mr.
Home Minister, you must know from your secret
reports about Hindu militarism. What I fear most today
is the Hindu backlash. It is evident that the Sikh
extremists cannot have it all their own way. If they
kill innocent Hindus in the Punjab, it is only a matter
of time for Hindu extremists to hit back. Then the fat
will be in the fire. I know for certain in Delhi, in
recent weeks, there are young Hindus going roimd
with trishuls which have slogans written on them
collecting money to buy arms, and saying quite clearly
that if this kind of killing goes on in the Punjab, we
will settle scores in Delhi and elsewhere. Once that
happens whether you like it or not, you will have laid
the foundations of Khalistan. For God’s sake, come to
a settlement now, without further delay.
63
Khushwant Singh
B ut that was not to be. By February 1984, the fat
was in the fire. For two years it smouldered, then
burst into flames that enveloped Punjab and Haryana
and threatened to spread further. For two years, the
common people of India pleaded with the Akalis and the
government to come to a settlement and save the coimtry
from disintegration. Neither the Akalis nor the
government heeded these voices and at all times,
appeared more eager to put the other in the wrong rather
than attempting to find a just solution. It became hard
to judge which had been the more obdurate, but there
remained no doubt that if the Akalis sowed the seeds of
separatism between Sikhs and Hindus, the govenunent
watered them till they erupted like venomous weeds
which finally threatened to choke the green wheat lands
of the two most prosperous states of India.
It was time to speak bluntly. Directly and in print,
I addressed both sides. First the Akalis:
You have been telling us that you were not seeking
power but justice for the Punjab. Why then did you
not do anything about it when you held the reins of
power in the Punjab? If it was for all Punjabis that
you sought a fairer deal, what did you do to get Punjabi
Hindus to join you? Did you not realise that by giving
your agitation a religious garb, you were deliberately
alienating the Hindus and driving a wedge between
the two sister communities? Why have you allov/ed a
man like Bhindranv/ale to go on spreading hatred
between Sikhs and Hindus from the sacred predncts
of the Temple of God — ^Harimandir? Were you under
any illusion that killings of innocent Hindus in the
Punjab would not rouse a Hindu backlash with
retaliatory destruction of Sikh life and property in
64
:iieiyi&u^g hands; , r; ,;
F^Xpu^jHavei^du^^ tilHyesterday were ' - M "
^ ; regarded as in tHah first-class citizens of India into
; less than; second-class citizens b ;
aV;;]^ . >;
^ V?; organising your lavish Asiads and : . ’
did you not sense the tremors
;. V. that w Punjab? Why have you not told
^i'the'Ak^ are acceptable,
which you are willing to submit to
V' h commission? Does it become an administration which
; : Hkes to describe itself one that works to dither on
.;-;for two long years without being able to make up its
; The common people of India
. - ^ you from the charge of criminal lack
, ; i of decisiveness, for the deterioration of law and order
< of life and property that has taken place.
V V This; chapter in our country's history has been written
: -by yoifr hand with an Akali pen dipped in the blood
; pf imiocents.
meanwhile. Continued to succeed in
intentions remained very clear,
in the Punjab to provoke a Hindu
■ liacfelash against the Sikhs living outside the Punjab. If
sppra^e kiUings were continued over a period of time,
; , this would create insecurity in the minds of Hindus Hying .
" ; \m P^ja^^^^ oh; ;the one side and that of Sikhs outeide the
y ; ; Pimjab: oh: the other. In ;due cpurse, tlmy wcmld leaw
Khushwant Singh
their business and homes in one region to move to
another where they would feel safer. This exchange of
popiilation may not have assumed the dimensions of the
1947 exodus but the pattern remained the same. If the
majority of the Sikhs were compelled to migrate to the
Punjab, it would in fact become Khalistan.
Did we want this to happen? I was pretty certain
then, as I am now, that every patriotic Indian including
99 per cent of the Sikhs would answer No! A thousand
times No! Yet we were allowing the Sikh extremists and
Hindu backlashists to get away with it. I put my
suggestions for a solution to various politician friends as
weU as wrote about them in my columns. First, let there
be only one authority to handle Punjab and Haryana
affairs and tell all others to keep their traps shut. I
recommended imposition of martial law in both states
and anywhere else where commimal violence happened
to break out. Second, I felt it was of utmost importance
to estabhsh liaison with the moderate Akali leadership
and with its cooperation, flush out criminal elements
including Bhindranwale from the Golden Temple and
hit the terrorist gangs as hard as possible. On 3rd March
in my column, with Malice Towards One and All
addressing the government, I wrote: “But at the moment
on no account, tiy to force entry into the Harimandir. A
blood bath there wiU for ever alienate sympathies of all
Sikhs and pave the way for Khalistan.”
The future was to prove that my worst fears were
well-founded.
O n 22nd February, Sumeet Singh was murdered.
Details that I learnt from members of the bereaved
66
family had a bearing on dhe ti'agedy^thai w^^^^
enacted almost daify^in-Piny^ and^^^^
Surneet was one.pf the foun sons dfN^
whose father Gurbaksh; Singh had set; up ahonimune of
like-minded liberals caUed Preetnagar. between Lahorp f
and Amritsar. He. also edited the most ‘\rideiy^
Pxmjabi monthly magazine,;Pree^Zari. Oh partition of the?; ■
Punjab in 1947^ Preetnagar became a border town' 0 ^^^^^^
the Indian side. After Gurhaksh Singh’s death, Naytej ’ 7 ;
took over the affairs of the commune as weU as- t% :
editorship of Preetlari. And when Navtej died two .years - ;
ago, Sxnneet took over these responsibilities. > ,
Like many Punjabis, this Preetnagar family was ,
not conscious of differences between Hindus and Sikhs.
Some wore long hair and beards; others did not. Sumeet .
had cut his hair, his brothers wer& keshadharis. Sumeet
married Poonam, the daughter of the well-known trade
union leader, Madan Lai Didi. -
A week before his murder, Sumeet, who was in Delhi
boarded a Punjab Roadways bus for Chandigarh. Near
Panipat, the bus was surrounded by a Hindu inob. Since
Sumeet wore a steel kara, he was hauled out to explain *
his identity. He said he was a Hindu as he did not have
long hair or a beard. The leaders of the inob were ;
not satisfied and wanted to beat him up. It wad the
Hindu bus driver who braved the mob and threatened to
fight anyone who dared to touch Sumeet. The sacred
kara almost cost Sumeet his life. It was a Hindu who
saved it. ' c ,
A week laterj Sumeet, ydth his youngest brother
Ratnikant Singh, who is decided to gp to
i^ritsar on their scooter to do some shopping/ At Lopoki
thby ran into an ambush by/four Sikh gunmen out on .a' ;
lolling, spree. They had. already . shot a cduple Of ]ffindus /
Khushwant Singh
when they came upon the two brothers and yelled “Ik aur
shikaar mil gaya” (we’ve found another game), referring
obviously to the short-haired Sumeet. Ratnikant swore
that Sumeet was his brother. He took off his turban and
put it on Sumeet’s head to show how exactly alike they
looked. Sumeet held up his kara to show he was a Sikh.
Nothing helped. The thugs shot him in the head and
shoulder and left him for dead. 'The shots did not kill
Sumeet. As he crumpled to the ground, the scooter fell
on him. His brother advised him to feign death till he
got help. The killers went about their bloody mission.
Before nuining away from Lopoki, they had another look
at Siuneet, and seeing that he was still alive, pumped
three more shots into him. Thus these so-called Sikhs
took the life of a fellow-Sikh either believing him to be
a Hindu or a Sikh whose views were impalatable to them.
The killing of Sumeet caused enormous revulsion
amongst Punjabis against killer squads and their arch-
patron, Bhindranwale. At Sumeet’s funeral, amongst
those who denoimced these villains was Bibi Rajinder
Kaur, Akali MP and daughter of the late Master Tara
Singh. For a change, she recalled her Hindu ancestry
(Masteijee was a Malhotra Hindu tiU the age of eleven)
and named several Akali leaders whose grandparents
were Hindus. An eminent Akali leader who came wearing
a white turban instead of the Akali steel-blue stated
openly that for once he felt ashamed of wearing the
badge of his party. As the Gandhi cap, once honoured as
the symbol of rectitude has today become a symbol of
corruption, so the once respected steel-blue of the Akalis
was becoming the symbol of all that was venal.
There was a time when the militant IChalsa had
looked upon his mission in words repeated at the end of
every prayer: neotian di oat (saviours of the helpless), ne
68
My Bleeding Pufijab
dasriari da dfzsra (hope of those who have lost all hope),
nithaVdan di thaan (refuge for the homeless) and
rtipatiian di patt (honour of those dishonoured). All this
was. being bartered away by a handful of biue-turbaned
men to attain their selfish ends. It was significant that
the last article Sumeet wrote in Preetlari was titled Nahin
taan bahut der ho chukee hoveygee — Otherwise it will
have become too late.
Things had come to such a pass that only the naive
could have cherished the illusion that clouds would soon
lift, rainbows span the. heavens and skylarks sing songs
of peace over the golden wheatlands of Punjab. And only
fools would have believed that wounds inflicted by the
people on the people with the tacit approval of their
foolishly short-sighted leaders would be healed, that
Punjabi Hindus and Sikhs would once again be falling
into each other's arms, worshipping in each other’s
temples and giving their sons and daughters in marriage
to each other. All that was buried in the past. The damage
that had been inflicted was irreparable. The perpetrators
of the Pimjab tragedy would get away with their crimes
with only pages of history to record their vile deeds and
the ineptitude of the government.
The lapses were manifold. So were the doubts in
my mind.. Would criminals who spilt innocent blood be
brought to trial and punished? Would people who saw
them commit these crimes now be bold enough to testify
against them? I doubted it. Peace bought at the price of
condoning crime is always an uneasy and fragile one.
Would anyone dare to ask Akali leaders by what
convolution of logic did they maintain that burning a
part of the Constitution (27th February^ 1984) that they
( had sworn to uphold in the name of God, did not amount
tb: ;^srespect for it? What faith could people place on
Khushwani Singh
their word of honour? What guarantee was there that
they would not raise new issues as they had done after
the 45 demands regarding a separate personal law for
the Sikhs and the amendment of Article 25? Would they
aid the administration in actively nabbing criminals?
Would they abjure for ever talk of separate nationhood
and amend the Anandpur Sahib resolution? I doubted it.
A peace bought without clarifying fundamental points of
difference is no more than a truce which may be violated
at will by anyone at any time.
The government on its part, deserved little credit
for the way it had handled the Punjab crisis. Lake the
British, successive governments of free India had
continued to treat it as a producer of grain and human
gun fodder. On the plea that it was a border state, few
industries were allowed to be set up there. Once yield
from land had reached its optimum with the Green
Revolution, decline set in. And with decline, disen-
chantment, restlessness and discord. It took Mr. MA.
Jinnah and the Muslim League almost a decade to
nurtiure the cactus of separation on a fertile soil; it took
the government and the Akalis less than three years’
tillage in the most barren land to sprout the thickets of
Hindu-Sikh separatism. The real job of giving Punjab
more industries and finishing river projects planned
many years ago to give the state and its neighbours
more water and hydro-electric power fell by the wayside.
The government went on talking. The people went on
listening without believing a word of it.
What followed is now common knowledge. It was
Bhindranwale’s guns that began to do the actual talking.
The Akali leaders cowed by fear into making inane
statements without ever criticising him for the hateful
pronouncements he was making or having the courage
70
My Bleeding Punjab
to tell him that a place of worship should not be used as
a sanctuary for criminals or be converted into a fortress.
On its part, the administration was paralysed and in
full view of hundreds of armed policemen, arms continued
to be smuggled into the Golden Temple complex. It could
not have been very difficult for a limited commando action
to capture Bhindranwale — dead or alive. At long last
when the government decided to act, it did so at the
worst possible time — the death anniversary of Guru
Aijun when thousands of pilgrims were visiting the
Temple — and in the worst manner: storming the Temple
with tanks and armoured cars and blasting the Akal
Takht.
Things have never been the same again. Sikhs who
had nothing to do with Bhindranwale or politics felt
deeply humihated. Bhindranwale was killed which gave
him a halo of martyrdom he did not deserve. It gave a
fillip to the terrorist groups. Bhindranwale’s ghost still
stalks the Pimjab countryside disturbing the sleep of the
Punjabi Hindu and the conscience of the Punjabi Sikh.
_ 71
6
Operation Bluestar
W hat actually took place on the 6th of June, 1984
at Amritsar was in fact a forcible entry made
with the help of guns and tanks, resulting in a
bloodbath the like of which has not been witnessed in
the Golden Temple since it was built more than 380
years ago. It was an ironic coincidence of history that
the tragic episode should have taken place following the
anniversary homage to Ariun Dev ^he„fiftlx.g uru of the
Sikfe, the builder of th e Ha rimanchr, rompiler of t he Sik h
sacred” smptuxe, ' th6l?ran f^ ^Sahib , the fir st m^ yr of
thVSlkEsand the man who gave the namejn whidi it
stari3srthe.nanie .^©nisar;;;^ popLof.nectar.
It is unlikefy that we will ever get to know the
truth about how the invasion was planned and executed,
the number of people killed and the damage done to the
Temple. Government and Akali versions are and will
forever be at variance. However, there can be little doubt
72
My Bleeding Punjab
that government handouts on the subject lacked
credibility. Par from crushing the Khalistan movement,
it had ^ven it the sustenance it lacked and weakened
the hands of Sikhs like me who were always bitterly
opposed to iti*^^'>*
It is tempting to compare the two massacres in the
history of Amritsar. The first took place 73 years ago in
the neighbouring Jallianwala Bagh on 13th April, 1919.,
It was on Baisakhi, the day Guru Gobind Singh founded
the Khalsa Panth. The recent incident followed the
martyrdom anniversary of Guru Arjun Dev who could be
described as the founder of the Sikh church. The figui'e
of casualties put out by the Punjab government after the
Jallianwala Bagh massacre was challenged by the
committee formed by the Indian National Congress which
maintained that the death toll was more than double of
that put out by the government. Most historians believe
that the final toll was 379 dead and over 2,000 wounded.
In the second episode, the government of the day
conceded that over 300 were killed. The Akalis put the
figure at well over 1,000, including women and children.
The one important difference between the two events is
that while General Dyer ordered his Gurkha platoon to
open fire on an entirely unarmed and peaceful assembly.
General Ranjit Singh Dayal (whose namesake rebuilt
the Harimandir in marble and gold leaf) had his men
storm the Temple complex which had been converted
into a fortress and defended by desperados armed with
sophisticated weapons. The one important sequel that
the two episodes have is that like the Jallianwala Bagh
massacre became the turning point in the history of
Indians freedom movement, the massacre in the
Harimandir became a similar turning point in the history
of the Khalistan movement.
. 73
Khushwant Singh
Despite continued terrorist activity over months
imtil the end of May 1984, the government evidently did
not think that storming the Golden Temple and flushing
out Bhindranwale and his supporters would put an end
to the violence in the state. It was the Akali decision to
step up their agitation by blocking the movement of food-
grains and the possibility of increased terrorist activity
that compelled the government to come to the conclusion
that enough was enough. It undoubtedly felt that a
surgical operation of a major dimension was necessary
to prevent the cancer of violence from spreading further.
The vast majority of Indians also felt that the
government had allowed matters to go from bad to worse
and welcomed the decision to grasp the Bhindranwale
nettle with an iron hand. If government spokesmen are
to be believed, the action created a sense of relief among
the general public. All the major political parties and
newspapers of the country also approved of the action.
The only exception to the othenvise national approval were
the Sikhs. The Akalis understandably condemned this
action. And no self-respecting Sikh had a kind word to say
for the government or the Sikh General it deployed to cany
out the Operation. The nxunber of innocent people slain
went on being increased and the desecration of the
parikrama and the Akal Takht was magnified to leave a
permanent dent in the bruised memory of the Khalsa Panth.
In short, the Sikhs began to feel isolated and a
separate people. That is what the Anandpur Sahib
resolution was about. What the Akalis failed to achieve by
persuasion and agitation was achieved by the events of 6th
June, 1984. It did not turn out to be the end of the trouble,
but the beginning of bigger troubles to come. Many times,
since then we have asked ourselves: Was it necessary?
The one immediate effect of the storming of the
74
My Bleeding Punjab
Harimandir complex and the Idllings was that Mrs. Indira
Gandhi deprived herself of anyone she could negotiate
with on behalf of the Sikhs. In addition, the ruling
Congress was no longer able to count on the support of
the Sikh masses in its electoral campaign.
I predicted that the Sikh vote would go solidly to the
Akali Dal. Whether or not Mrs. Gandhi and her party
would be compensated by a bigger turnout of Hindu’s
votes in their favour remained a matter of speculation.
But these were trivial matters compared to the much
greater damage done to Hindu-Sikh relations. The Akalis
and, more than them, Bhindranwale and his goons, did
grievous harm by driving a wedge between the two ^
communities who had always shared a common histo-
rical, linguistic and religious heritage. What the Akalis
and Bhindranwale did in alienating the Hindus from the
Sikhs was complemented by the governmental action in
further alienating the Sikhs from the Hindus. Most
uneducated Sikhs construed the desecration of their
Temple as an act perpetrated by a Hindu government. In
different parts of India, Sikh troops mutinied and slew
their Hindu officers. Many Sikh members of Parliament
and State legislatures resigned their memberships. So
did one diplomat and several civil servants. Four Sikh
intellectuals, including myself, handed back honours
conferred on them by the government.
I wrote:
It will take a long time for the blood-stains to be
washed away from the marble parikrama and the
buildings around the Harimandir. It will take even longer
for the sullen resentment smouldering in the hearts of
the Sikh community to subside. lime can be the best
healer, provided nothing is done to further exacerbate
Sikh sentiment.
75
Khushwant Singh
One lesson to be leamt from the storming of the
Golden Temple is that it was the worst way of handling
an explosive situation. Another is that political,
economic and social problems are not solved by superior
gunpower but by persuasion, by give-and-take.
The need of the hour is to provide a healing touch.
This can best be done by acts of penance by people in
power.
The point I am making can be illustrated from the
two years of violence in the Punjab and the current
state of lawlessness in Haryana. It is not as well-
known as it should be that the single biggest
contributory factor to the chain of killings in Punjab
was the inability of the police to apprehend criminals
and bring them to justice. Instead, the police took the
easier way out by eliminating them through faked
encounters. In the process, many innocent lives were
lost. This alienated the sympathies of the common man
from the police and at the same time roused the relatives
and friends of slain innocents to seek revenge against
the police. It was the kind of “wild justice” that Bacon
spoke of. Since the law enforcing body itself has become
privy to this kind of “wild justice”, there is no escape
from the vicious circle of killings and counter-killings.
Tlie great difference between what happened (and
is happening) in Punjab and what is happening in
Haryana is' that while in Punjab the slayings were
(and are) acts of individuals or small gangs of thugs, in
Haryana most of the populace has been infected with
the desire to revenge what is taking place in Punjab.
They will soon learn that “nothing is more costly,
nothing more sterile than vengeance” (Churchill). In
short, Punjabis and Haryanvis have put the entire
nation on their hit lists.
76
The White Paper
& My Peace Plan
A White Paper on the Punjab Agitation was
published on 10th Jtily, 1984, 1 consulted over a
dozen dictionaries and encyclopaedias to find
why a white paper was called a white paper. I remained
as blank as a piece of white paper. I found a white ant
(a termite), white collar worker (a clerk), white elephant
(something useless), white feather and flag (signs of
defeat), a white lie and many other kinds of white things,
but all they said about a ^Wte Paper was that it was
“an official report fi-om the British government on a
certain subject.” And went on to the next item. . ' ^
. . Not every governmental report is a White Papor.
Reports, of government departments are known, as Blue
Books. A White Paper is only issued on- a matter of '
unusual or international importance and has to be
Khushwant Singh
objective, authentic and detailed — ^the last word on any
subject. Why colourlessness came to be attached to .the
doings of governments I only discovered when I read the
White Paper on the Punjab agitation. It did not add
anything to the little I already knew about the Akalis,
Bhindranwale, the slaughter of innocents, smuggling of
arms, fortifying of the Akal Takht and Operation Blue-
star. Everything that this White Paper contained had
appeared in our Press before. However, it was a compe-
tently done job of scissors and paste. Now no one need
waste hours looking through reference files or newspaper
clippings: all the names and dates can be found in one
slim volume — embellished with many photographs except
one most people might expect to see, that of the slain
Bhindranwale.
It would be unfair to describe this White Paper as
a mere white washing of administrative shortcomings.
On the contrary there was a candid admission of failure
of intelligence at certain levels and a visible slmring
over answers to crucial questions. After the Prime
Minister and other state dignitaries had publicly
proclaimed the existence of a foreign hand in Punjab’s
txumioil, the White Paper was expected to divulge its
identity and produce evidence in support. It did neither.
It did not tell us why the authorities first arrested
Bhindranwale on charges of murder and then let him go
scot-free. Nor why he was not rearrested when it was
easy to do so and only reframed criminal charges when
it became virtually impossible to serve a warrant of arrest
on him. The most important omission was that it did not
teU us why a commando action by men in plain clothes
or a siege effectively cutting off food and fuel supplies
was regarded impractical and a massive invasion with
tanks became necessary. It did not spell out the damage
78
ilfy Bleeding Punjab
caused to property other than to the 'Akal Takht by the
cross-fire between the army and Bhindrawale’s men. Most
people who visited the Temple complex -confirmed that
the central shrine, Harimandir, had over 200 bullet
marks — ^whether fired by Bhindranwale’s men or the
army no one will ever know. Nor will we ever know
which of the two fired the incendiary device which
destroyed the Temple archives with its irreplaceable
treasure of hundreds of handwritten copies of the Granth
Sahib and Hukumnamahs bearing signatures of the
gurus. Why was this information suppressed?
The paper ended with posing three questions; Is it
right to convert a place of worship into an arsenal? To
allow it to become a hiding place for criminals? And
what do we do to preserve our secular foundations from
eroding? The answer to the first two questions ■ is
obviously a categorical, no never. I was then and am
today equally clear about the third. Religion, must be a
strictly private affair. Public displays of religiosity by
Presidents, Prime Ministers, Chief Ministers and other
political functionaries may yield temporary electoral
benefits but do irreparable harm to the country. They
should be assiduously avoided.
A t about the same time as this White Paper was made
-^public, I formxilated my own Peace Plan for the
Punjab. It was published in many papers. This is how it
ran:
1. This draft is presented for consideration of all
Punjabis — Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims and Christians — as
a possible means of restoring fraternal goodwill after
the army is withdrawn and in the hope that the new
79
Khuskwant Singh
leadership that will emerge will keep prosperity of the
state above sectarian interests. In order to do so, it is
necessary to share the perspective of events of the past
few months.
2. The storming of the Gulden Temple on 5-6th June,
1984, despite many assurances to the contrary made in
both houses of Parliament and the resultant loss of hves
including hundreds of innocent men, women and children,
as well as extensive damage to the Akal Takht and sacred
relics housed therein, with concurrent action against most
gurdwaras in the Punjab, has severely wounded the
religious susceptibilities of the entire Sikh community
numbering over 14 million all over the world. Punjabis
of other religious communities who share this grief should
come forward to help heal the woimds inflicted on the
Sikhs.
3. We do not accept claims of the administration
that it had no option but to storm the Temple with
maximum force, never used before in a domestic
operation, to capture Jamail Singh Bhindranwale and
his followers. Nor do we accept the government’s version
of the number of casualties, the extent of the damage
caused and the quantity of arms, ammunition and
narcotics allegedly discovered in the Temple. From the
many contradictions in statements made by official
spokesmen, it is evident that the administration intended
to further tarnish the reputation of those killed in the
Operation, and by inference, the reputation of the entire
Sikh community. We demand that the names of those
killed in the Operation should be published including
the army casualty hsts.
4. We call on aU Punjabis to reject any attempt by
government agencies to repair any part of the damaged
complex of the Golden Temple and deplore the fact that
80
, ; My Ble^dmgPi^
in spite of strongs appeals from, all sections pf f He. Sijcli
community, the government- has ; Steady
extensive repairs. This task has traditionally been the
privilege of the Sangat throughout Sildi histoiy ahdmu^
be achieved only through voluntary servicer^Mr sepd
if Sikh sentimeiits are to be respected./
5. Hereafter, all Punjabis should observe the 6th of
June as a day of prayer for those who lost their lives bn
the 5th and 6th June, 1984, and in atonerneht for thb
violence done to the Golden Temple. At the same tlmej
we must accept the fact that a section of the Sikh
community shares the responsibility, alpng with the Akali
Dal and the top Sikh reli^ous leaders for. the initial
sacrilege committed at the Temple by allowing armed
men to take up residence there, fortifying a part of the
Temple and using it as a base for hostile action^ The 6th
of June should also be a day of prayer when Punjabisiall
over the world pledge themselves to the teaching of their
gurus and the ideals preached by them.
6. Amritsar should be declared a Holy city. Sale of
tobacco, liquor and meat should be forbidden within the
walled city. (The status of Hardwar, Varanasi and
Tirupati should be checked to make this feasible.) ;
7. Having gone through this traumatib ejqierience;
Sikhs must now undertake a serious introspective
exercise covering all aspects of the community i iThis
includes their status as citizens of India, of the leaderslup
provided by different pohtical parties, particularly ; the
Akali Dal which has enjoyed the monopoly of being the
sole “Sikh” party and so has received a large majority of
Sikh votes as well as of the role and composition of the
SGPC. Sikhs must evolve a new religious leadersMp Of
the Panth. Obviously serious, fimdamental, changes "are;
called for. This is the time for deep, searching analysis
81
Khushwant Singh
and an enquiry into why and how the present situation
developed. Sikhs must recognise that this is a crisis
affecting the entire community, hoth internally and vis-
a-vis their future status in the country. There is need
for rethinking on these subjects and cosmetic corrective
measures should not be taken seriously.
8. Both existing parties, the Congress and the Akah
Dal, have failed the Punjabis. While the Congress has
shown no concern for the Sikh community in its hour of
trial, or in honouring the assurances given by them at
the time of Independence, the Akahs have exploited
religious sentiments, largely to grab pohtical power in
the state and at all times to retain their hold on the
SGPC at the cost of the larger interests of the community.
In spelling out their demands, the Akahs failed to take
the Punjabi Hindus into confidence, and so wrecked their
chances of success. Had they acted as a regional party
instead of as a rehgious one, the present situation might
have been avoided. Instead, by injecting religious
sentiments in essentially Pimjabi demands, they pursued
a path which widened the gulf between Hindus and
Sikhs, thus playing the same game as the Hindu
commimal elements.
9. Akali connivance with Bhindranwale in allowing
his followers to fortify the Akal Takht and other parts of
the Golden Temple, and the reluctance of the Akali
leaders to condemn the acts of terrorism perpetrated by
Biudranwale’s men further ahenated Hindus from Sikhs
and weakened the joint demands of the Punjabis. This
postmre also lost the sympathy of other elements in the
rest of the coimtry which otherwise might have supported
Pimjabi demands.
10. Contrary to democratic tradition once the two-
year morcha had faegim, the SGPC and the Akali Dal
82
My Bleeding Punjab
took decisions in which they took for granted that the
entire Sikh community was behind them. This was
certainly not the case. To keep the Dharam Yudh alive
(and it is debatable in whose interest this was), the Akalis
let control slip out of their hand^ into those of extremists
and gave the government the excuse to invade and
desecrate the Golden Temple.
11. The general lethargy of the Sikh community,
the vast majority of whom did not approve of the growing
militant presence in the Golden Temple complex over
the past two years, played a vital role in the tragic
situation prevailing today. For all these reasons, the
status quo is no longer acceptable. Either the Akali Dal
must undergo a total transformation and be persuaded
(or pressurised) to change its traditional modus vivendi
or else we have to think of a pohtical alternative. Given
the massive problems of building up such a force,
transformation of the Alkali Dal’s intrinsic character
would seem the practical way.
12. In order to try to rectify the mistakes made by
the Akalis, Sikhs must:
(a) Reaffirm categorically their Indian identity.
They are Indians, part of India, and will
oppose any proposal to establish a separate
Sikh state.
(b) Amend those clauses of the Anandpur
Resolution which describe Sikhs as a
“separate nation” or alternatively explain
that quam does not imply nationhood.
(c) Restate that Sikhs do not want a separate
Personal Law which through its proposed
provisions for succession and marriage etc.
would push Sikh society back into mediaeval
83
Khushwant Singh
times and deprive Sikh women of equal rights
in property, marriage and divorce given to
them under the Hindu Code Bill. This would
be against the Sikh principle of equality
between men and women. Sikhs must also
resist any attempt to amend Article 25 of the
Indian Constitution which in any case recog-
nises Sikhs as a separate religious community.
13. Through meetings of Hindus and Sikhs who
share the common desire to re-establish a state of
communal harmony and peace, we should work for
establishing closer bonds with our Hindu brethren and
through frank discussions and airing of sentiments dispel
the misimderstandings which have developed and work
for a close association when it comes to making major
demands on behalf of the Punjab. These will include:
(a) Immediate transfer of Chandigarh to the
Punjab without altering the status of Fazrilka
and Abohar. Minor boundary adjustments
with Haryana, Himachal and Rajasthan may
be made in agreement with those states or
referred to a Tribunal.
(b) Settlement of the river waters dispute along
the lines the Akalis and other parties had
accepted earlier, giving Punjab a fair
distribution of the waters. (This can be
detailed according to the facts.)
14. Establishment of industrial projects and heavy
industries in the Punjab. The state has a legitimate
grievance that it has been deprived of adequate industrial
development, that there is a lack of flour, textile and
sugar mills to process the agricultural produce, that this
84
has led to serious disicontent and educated hne^pld
When the Green Revohatioh has attained a pla^ad stage, ^
young unemployed men can;ho.^]bh^hihe;; ahsorhddldn^ •
the land. The central government must - grant; hcehces^^ r
for such industries without delay, and; plan the; location: ;
of heavy industries in the state on a. priority ;hasis td^;^^^;^/
achieve a balanced economy. This will help absorb the" : ' ^
large number of unemployed youth whose (hsabrection; ^
has helped Bhindranwale. . : <: . \ . v, ; ; ; j ^
15. Sikhs have always enjoyed a sperial-position in ,; / ;
the armed forces. However^ their proportion has steadily; ' / ;
declined from almost one third during the British; rule to , /
under 10 per cent today. This is another source of ; ^
discontent, and there is fear that the present percentage . . ,
may decline further with the policy Of recruitment; :
according to population proportions. Since, soldiering is;
an integral part of the Sikh tradition asjwell as ah:^^;
important source of employment, it is imperative that ; :V .
the percentage of Sikhs in the armed forces should not ; .
be reduced.
Government should take measures to ensure that
the ‘mutinies’ resulting from Sikh reaction to Operation:
Bluestar are considered in , the perspective of the unusu^C
circiimstances of their occurrence, and do not result in ; :
a tendency to distrust the Sikhs. This would be ;inoSt^
unfortunate as it would result in even greater alienation
of the community.
I was absolutely convinced that the- only way to nssuage
the hurt feelings of the Bikhs as welL as bring the /
Hindu and Sikh commiinities closer together was, tp:bury ; ;' . - ;
Khushwant Singh
the past and agree to disagree on what had happened in
Amritsar. The Sikhs would never see it in the same
light as others. Nevertheless, I advocated that we should
not allow ourselves to stew in the juices of bitterness and
recrimination but from this experience, extract lessons that
would help us to think more rationally in the years to
come.
It was ns clear as daylight to me that Punjabis had
no future except as one people: Punjabis. Since almost
every Punjabi politician and every political party had
been discredited in the eyes of the people, there was an
enormous vacuum to fill. Sikhs who had supported the
Akali Dal were thoroughly disillusioned by its leaders’
lack of foresight and narrow sectarian views. More than
any other pohtical party, it was the Akalis who had
brought Punjab to this sorry pass. Their monopoly over
Sikh politics and the stranglehold they had over
gutrdwara fimds had to be broken. In various articles
and speeches, I insisted that whatever the new leadership
the Sikhs threw up, it must endeavour to take Punjabi
Hindus in a fraternal embrace; whatever demands they
made, whether they were for Chandigarh, readjustment
of boundaries or fairer allocation of river waters, even
for those which were described as purely religious, like
declaring Amritsar a holy city, longer hours of relay of
Gurubani, or an All India Gurdwara Act, they must be
made jointly by Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus. Amritsar,
Gurubani and gurdwaras are our common heritage.
Likewise, Hindu communal parties should dissolve
themselves and regroup only provided they have an equal
number of Sikhs amongst them.
Though this appeal to Punjabiat might have soimded
like the Pimjabi version of Telugu Desam, I felt it was
the only way of exorcising strife-ridden Punjab of the
86
commimal = vi^ in its body poMcr ^d ite^
restoring it to good liealth. I knew ;
sounded like a pipe-dream, but it certainly was a spotting
one. ■ . ^ t xA .:■
I visited Punjab in the beginning of October 1984.
My hopes were belied. There were no hew. political
parties, no new leader emerging- on the horizon and the
AkaH Dal had, rather than losing its grip, re-established
its hold over the Sikh masses. It seemed to me more
than hkely that as soon as its leaders, were released
from jail, far from being discredited, they would reassert
themselves to resume their destructive roles. Once again,
it would be the Ahandpur Sahib Resolution, Chandigarh,
River Waters, Article 25, Separate Personal Law for the
Dharma Yucidha morchas and endless parleys,
with the central government representatives. It was clear
to me that all we had done in the past few months was
play Snakes and Ladders. Our dice had been swallowed
by the python of violence and we were certainly back to
square one.
A Punjabi proverb for the Pimjab as before came to
me, as I travelled around the strife-tom state:
Sehnee paindee maar . ;
dulattian dee
. Jay kursee bahaayey
, khotian noon . • - .
If for leaders you donkeys pick. • ;
Learn to bear . the donkeys’ kicks.
; Little did I know then that matters were to really
blow up on the. last day of that month., s , , ? V
8
Indira Gandhi’s Assassination
& Its Aftermath
I or a slip made in a few seconds the price may
M have to be paid over many centuries,” runs an
iX. Indian proverb. For an incident that took place
in a few split seconds on the morning of 31st October,
1984, the entire course of Indian history took a decisive
turn.
In India, October is a month of festivals. Monsoon
rains are over. The summer crop of paddy has another
few weeks to ripen before it is ready to be harvested.
Peasants are comparatively fine from their back-breaking
chores. In a land where the vast majority of population
is engaged in agriculture, this is the time to relax as one
religious festival follows another ending with Diwali, the
festival of lamps when Hindu and Sikh houses are gaily
illiuninated with oil lamps and fireworks are let off.
88
My Bleeding Punjab
That October, festivals were on a low key because
of a year of tension between Hindus and Sikhs which
had often exploded in violence in the Punjab. The Sikhs
were aggrieved over the storming of the Golden Temple.
No Diwali lamps were lit in Sikh homes and many wore
black turbans as a sign of mourning. Their anger was
largely directed against Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
and the Sikh President Giani Zail Singh who they
believed had sanctioned the army action. Security around
both had been strengthened. Mrs Gandhi’s residence had
three rings of security guards (numbering over 1800) on
duty at all hours and the latest electronic devices to
prevent intruders installed under the directions of an
expert. Mrs Gandhi had been advised to wear a bullet-
proof jacket when going out.
Mrs Gandhi was always very fiissy about her dress
and appearance. She chose her own saris and blouses to
match. That morning she took particular care to wear a
colourfiil sari and did not bother about her bullet proof
vest. A television crew headed by the playwright-actor
Peter Ustinov was waiting to shoot her for a BBC
programme. She stepped out of her house to go into the
garden to face the cameras. As she crossed through a
parting in the hedge, two of her security guards, both
Sikhs, opened fire on her.
‘nave you heard? The Prime Minister has been
shot”. The voice on the phone was of a lady who had a
fnend working in Mrs Gandhi’s household. It was
9.30 a.m. of Wednesday the 31st October 1984.
“Good Lord,” I exclaimed, “who was it?”
“Sikhs, who else ? You better stay indoors for some
time,” she advised.
I switched on my radio to listen in to the 10 o’ clock
news. AH India Radio announced that an attempt had
89
Khushwant Singh
been made on the life of Mrs Gandhi and that she had
been seriously injured. No more. It continued with its
usual programmes of song and music as well as relayed
a running commentaiy of a cricket match between India
and Pakistan being played at Islamabad. This was simply
not done. When Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated 37
years ago and when Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru
and his successor Lai Bahadur Shastri died. All India
Radio broadcast doleful religious music from the time
their deaths were known till their cremations were over.
It was scarcely possible that a frail, elderly woman of 67
could have siirvived 18 bullets pmnped at close range
into her. It was more likely that the annoimcement of
her death would await the return of the President from
Mauritius and her surviving son, Ragiv Gandhi, from
Calcutta. Both were expected back in Delhi by the
afternoon. In medieval India, deaths of ruling monarchs
were not made public till a successor had been named.
The practice was observed in October 1984.
In times of crises, most Indians switch on their
radios to foreign broadcasts, BBC or the Voice of America.
Both confirmed that Mrs Gandhi was dead and that her
killers were two Sikhs of her own security guard: one
had been killed on the spot, the other was severely
wounded but expected to survive.
By the afternoon, crowds began to gather aroimd
the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (A.I.I.M.S.)
where a team of surgeons were said to be trying
desperately to save Mrs Gandhi’s life. The crowds chanted
Indira Gandhi, Zindabad — ^Long live Indira Gandhi.
There were no Sikhs amongst them. On the contrary, it
was reported that some were celebrating the event by
dancing, letting off fireworks and distributing sweets.
As soon as Mrs Gandhi’s death was confirmed, the
90
My Bleeding Punjab
Hindu’s wrath against the Sikhs came to the boil. The
crowds’ chant changed to: Khoon ka badla khoon say
leyngey — we will avenge blood with blood. From the
A.I.I.M.S., Hindu mobs fanned out to neighbouring
highways, roads and markets. Sikh-owned shops were
looted and then set on fire; their owners belaboured till
they fell unconscious. Cars and buses were stopped, Sikh
passengers pulled out and beaten up. If the car was
driven by a Sikh, petrol was taken out of its tank,
sprinkled on the seats and it was set on fire. Since more
than half of Delhi’s taxis, trucks and privately owned
buses were owned by Sikhs, by sunset thousands of them
could be seen burning in different parts of the city. Even
the Sikh President Zail Singh’s convoy was not spared.
On the way back from the A.I.I.M.S. his car was stoned,
and his press officer, also a Sikh, barely managed to get
away ahve.
More was to come. That night, local politicians
belonging to the ruling Congress party met to decide
how “to teach the Sikhs a lesson they would never forget.”
Party cadres were mobilised. Contacts were made with
lumpen elements living in shanty towns and neigh-
bouring villages. Sikh homes and shops were marked.
Trucks were commandeered; iron rods and cans of
kerosene oil and petrol acquired. Rumours were floated
that train-loads of Hindus massacred by Sikhs had come
firom the Punjab; Sikhs had poisoned Delhi’s drinking
water supply.
At break of dawn of 1st November, the anti-Sikh
pogrom got going in right earnest. Truck-loads of
hoodlums armed with steel rods, jerry cans full of
kerosene oil and petrol went round the city setting fire
to gurdwaras. One adjacent to my apartment was raided
by a gang which threw out the carpets, the canopy and
91
Khushwant Singh
awning along with the holy book, the Granth, in the
courtyard and made a bonfire of them. They roughed up
the 65-year-old priest. The gang departed, taking the
gurdwara money box amid shouts of Indira Gandhi,
Zindabad.
There was an eerie interlude of two hours before
the slogan shouting gang returned. This time it went for
the garage of a Sikh mechanic much liked and respected
by all who dealt with him. They siphoned petrol out of
a car, sprinkled it on the seats, flung a lighted match
in it and departed as the car went up in flames. This
time the neighboms came rovmd to douse the flames lest
their own cars and homes catch fire. Once more came
the eerie stillness and the evening gloom heightened by
the smouldering embers of the cremated car. They came
again at night. This time to set fire to a godown full of
motor tyres owned by a Sikh. And again in the early
houas of the morning to set fire to another car and loot
Sikh shops in the neighboiuing market.
Thousands of others had their long hair and beards
cut off— the ultimate in hinmiliation for a Sikh. Himdreds
of young Sikhs were doused with petrol and set alight.
A more sophisticated method of l^ing was to fill the
inside of a car tyre with petrol, light it and put the
flaming garland round the neck of the victim. In outlying
localities, lads from neighbouring villages descended on
scattered Sikh homes, killed the men, looted everything
they could find and set the rest on fire. Young women
were gang-raped and some abducted. Trains and buses
coming in or going out of Delhi were halted, Sikh
passengers dragged out and biumt ahve. Amongst the
casualties were scores of army offlcers in xmiform. There
was very little resistance. In Delhi, Sikhs form a bare
7 per cent of the population. Unlike Muslims who had
92
My Bleeding Punjab
their separate localities, Sikhs lived amongst Hindus
without the slightest feeling of insecurity. Hindus who
tried to help their Sikh neighbours were threatened with
violence. Nevertheless, many Sikh lives were saved by
them.
Most of the looters and killers were sweepers,
cobblers, day-labourers or beggars JBrom shanty towns or
villagers whose agricultural lands had been acquired to
provide housing sites for Delhi’s increasing iwpulation.
The majority were between the ages of 12-30. Their
main object was to loot radio and television sets, cycles,
clocks, clothes, kitchen utensils and fnrniture. Bashing
in Sikh skulls and seeing them burning alive were fun
and games; the real object was loot. In most instances,
mobs were led by members of Mrs Gandhi’s Congress
party including some Members of Parliament. Policemen
on duty turned away their faces and took their share of
the booty. Sikh houses and shops were marked for
destruction in much the same ways" as those of Jews in
Tsarist Russia or Nazi Germany. Except a few wealthy
homes in upper class residential areas defended by armed
guards, no Sikh property was spared. In the heart of
New Delhi’s main shopping centre, Connaught^ Circus,
Sikh-owned fiimiture shops were set ablaze while crowds
cheered and the police looked on. There were no signs of
grief over the death of their Prime Minister but plenty
of envy, hate and malicious pleasure at seeing Sikhs
who had done better than they being cut to size.
I awaited my turn. I felt like a partridge in a
partridge shoot waiting to be flushed out of cover and
shot on the wing. For the first time I realised what Jews
must have felt like in Nazi Germany, what Indian
Muslims must have felt like in riot-tom Bhiwandi,
Jalgaon, Moradabad, Ranchi and elsewhere. For the first
93
Khuskwant Singh
time I imderstood what words like pogrom, holocaust
and genocide really meant. I was no longer a member of
an over-privileged commiinity but of one which was the
object of dire hate. All day long my telephone rang. “They
are birming our gurdwara, can’t you do anything? They
have looted our shops, can’t you do an 5 rthing? They have
kiUed all Sikhs in our neighboming mohallas, can’t you
do anything? There are scores of Sikh corpses lying along
the rail track, can’t you do anything?” In my turn I rang
up everyone I knew from the Commissioner of Police,
the Lt. Governor, the Home Minister, right up to
Rashtrapati Bhavan. The only help I received was in the
form of advice: “Get out of your place and hide with your
Hindu Mends. At least you will be able to save your life.
Get out before the funeral procession starts. That is when
the mobs may become violent.” Impotent advice from a
bunch of slow-witted men! Such things had never
happened during the British rule. With the first outbreak
of violence, armed police went into action. When it fired,
it fired to kill. If the army was summoned, it put down
riots within a few minutes with an iron hand.
But for two days there was no law or order in India’s
capital city nor in major cities like Kanpur, Lucknow
and Bokaro. The new Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, his
advisers, cabinet ministers, chief ministers of states, and
senior civil servants were busy receiving heads of states
of foreign countries pouring into the capital to attend
Mrs Gandhi’s funeral. Meanwhile, Doordarshan (India’s
T.V.) showed nothing besides Mrs Gandhi’s body lying
in state with streams of mourners filing past and crowds
outside chanting Indira Gandhi Amar Rahey — Indira
Gandhi is immortal. On the second day, newspapers and
the radio announced that Section 144 of the Criminal
Procedure Code banning any gathering of five or more
94
My Bleeding Punjab
persons and night curfew had been imposed and that
the police had been ordered to shoot law-breakers at
sight. Nevertheless, the marauding went on merrily
without anyone being shot. Ultimately, the ai-my had to
be called in. The worst killings were feared on Mrs
Gandhi’s funeral when large crowds returning to their
homes from the site of the cremation might have another
go at the hapless Sikhs. Most well-to-do Sikhs moved
into hotels or took shelter in homes of their Hindu friends.
In Delhi, it took the authorities over 24 hours to
reahse that the police and the para-military forces were
unwilling (not incapable but unwilling) to put down the
rioters. Curfew was announced but never imposed; shoot
at sight authorised, but never executed; extensive
patrolling was more heard over All-India Radio and
Doordarshan than seen with the eyes. The killing
assumed the proportion of a genocide of the Sikh
community.
“Get out of your place”, was the repetitive advice.
But go where and how? They were kilhng Sikhs on trains,
buses, taxis, scooters.
I had half-an-hour to pack up. I wrenched off the
name plate from my door. What could I take with me
from my home where I had hved ever since I had been
driven out of Pakistan? Ultimately, I decided to leave
everything and in my overnight bag only put in the
manuscript of a nearly completed novel. They could have
all the rest: the two score books I had written and the
few thousand I had collected, the TV set, tape recorders,
clocks, watches, clothes, carpets, furniture, paintings
everything. They could have the bloody lot. Thirty-seven
years ago, I left the same kind of stufr to Pakistan; now
I would leave it to Hindustan.
Romesh Thapar bundled us into the car of a
95
Khushwant Singh
diplomat. We found sanctuary in the home of Rolf and
Jeanne GauEBn of the Swedish Embassy. In my own
homeland, I had become a refugee, deprived of my
birthright to mourn the assassination of my Prime
Minister. Instead, I mourned the deaths of thousands of
men who were killed for no other reason than that they
happened to belong to the same community as the Prime
Minister’s assassins.
The attendance at Mrs Gandhi’s fiineral was very
thin because few buses plied and like the smoke of burnt
bmldings, a pall of fear had spread over the dty. That
night Rajiv Gandhi went round and with his own eyes
saw the havoc that had been caused. However, at a public
meeting to pay tribute to his mother, he said, “We will
avenge Mrs Gandhi’s death.” And added after a pause,
“but not in this way.” His words did not inspire much
confidence amongst the Sikhs. He almost explained away
the general massacre as something that should have
been expected; “When a big tree falls, the earth about it
shakes,” he said.
Nobody knows how many fives were lost in those
three days following Mrs Gandhi’s assassination. At first,
the government put the figure at a little over 1,000, half
of them in Delhi. Two months later, the official figure
was raised to over 2,000 dead. Unofficial estimates put
the death toll at over 6,000 for the whole of India, more
than half of it in Delhi. There were over 50,000 Sikhs in
a dozen or more refugee camps, amongst them over 1,300
women widowed in the previous three days.
A report entitled Who are the Guilty? jointly pub-
lished by the Peoples’ Union for Democratic Rights and
the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties not only accepted
the higher figure but amongst the hundred named guilty
included H.K.L. Bhagat, senior member of Rajiv Gandhi’s
96
CO
% to Ms
&.#eU ^ dly fetfiej^^ members of ibe rntog
iSress birty. Aiiotbef ; cor^sion pf mqW
*Slrea Supreme Co^. SAI.
-il-^lf^rrtbsistiie of a panel of eminent retired ami
g^^iSigledfuddin O^alw,
add GovindNarain likewise gaven dam^g
againsttG>ess: P^tici^e, the^pohce ^d
Administedtion. ■ YeV a tWi January
CHtizens for Democracy was i^eased on the 29^
Wfefe its Ciig^ ri<^lits
m larkuM^^^^^^ figure in
raovement/^ was ^ased on extensive i that
.^ctiins and eye-mtnesses. It came to ® ruling
tlie“camage vl violence
pa^y); it, Mthough „e(j uo
'erapted after . j«assacre
Sikh l^d ten M after plans for 31st
were matmeft leaders on the nig _ ^ ^
: of an^r his
an intens%: as to hum a m^ read. According:
: ; angihsheAm^ ^ . Mllers were
M ^ Vhe localities,
: gatli%d;^^i^ outside and msi .^^jj^tified.” The
houses Ajit to appoMt ^
gwer^ent w
^ ^teissibhofehquiry ofits own. The ^ that “ste^rn
1 (tb die two Hc^te of ParUament violence put ;
• , ahd;eflrectiy were taken ©vident, th^t ^
,:dQ^m ihe si^^ possible tim^ ' ap h p^^denf
5 'tSergudty would go scot free ^ ^
county dear. j^^ihbdB^iv ,
■ : ciroilaind lyeeMy from Calcu^> . ^
Khushwant Singh
silence on the subject as “the first black mark he has got
on his otherwise clean image.” A senior civil servant
said to me, “the tiger has tasted human blood; it was
Sikh blood this time, hereafter it will be that of the well-
to-do of every community.” The tiger he referred to was
the lumpen elements firom shanty towns and deprived
villages. In Parliament on 22nd January, 1985, 1 appealed
to the government to appoint a high-powered judicial
commission to go into the post-assassination violence. I
was convinced that unless the guilty were identified and
pimished, there would be no settlement of the Punjab
problem and no peace in the country. I had addressed
Parliament five days earlier too — ^this time to pay tribute
to Mrs. Gandhi. I said:
I thank you for giving me this opportunity of
paying tribute to our departed leader. I speak of her
in four capacities. First, as one who for a brief period
had the privilege of her fiiendsliip and to whom I owe
my presence in this august assembly today. Secondly,
as a critic of her policies, particularly insofar as they
concerned the Punjab and earned her displeasure for
doing so. Thirdly, as a Sikh and a member of the
same community to which her assassins belonged and
bearing the stigma that many of my countrymen have
imprinted on us. Finally, and above all, as an Indian
who feels passionately that the most befitting tribute
we can pay this great woman is to strive to achieve
her unfulfilled dream of creating a united, strong,
prosperous and happy India.
Mrs Gandhi's place in history is assured. No one
person in the history of the world, neither dead nor
living, neither male nor female, held the destinies of
so many people for so long a time in their hands as
did Indira Gandhi. No monarch ruled over so vast a
98
My Bleeding Punjab
territory inhabited by so numerous a people as diverse
in race, creed, language and ways of living as did
Indira Gandhi. She did not inherit an. empire nor was
sat upon a throne by a set of courtiers. She was put
on the seat of authority by the free-will of her own
people. She wore no crown save the crown of thorns
that rulers often have to wear. She bore the awesome
burden of office with conscientious responsibility,
fortitude and cheerfulness rarely seen. I recall how in
the 1979 election campaign she toured the country by
plane, jeep, bullock cart and on foot non-stop and
without rest or sleep for 36 hours and arrived at a
social function looking as fresh, smiling and as
radiantly beautiful as she always did. I know of no
other woman who combined in her appearance regal
dignity with feminine charm as she did and answered
Hillaire Belloc’s description of a beautiful woman:
Her face was like the king’s command
When all the swords are drawn.
She took the hazards of life with unparalleled
courage. And ultimately paid the price for it with her
own life. As the Bard said, “She and comparisons are
odious”. Before her the great figures of history, the
Caesars of Rome and Tsars of Russia, the Bonapartes
of France and the Kaisers of Germany, the monarchs
of England, the Presidents and Prime Ministers of our
times pale into littleness: “She was not of this age but
for all time”. We will not see the likes of her in our
life-times. About her we can say with conviction: she
will be forever honoured, forever mourned.
Mrs Gandhi did not subscribe to any dogmas. Her
one pohtical commitment was to keep the coimtry
99
Khushwant Singh
united. That persuasion and belief ripened into faith
and that faith became a passioned intuition.
While paying my personal tribute to Mrs Gandhi^
I caimot overlook mentioning the fact that her killers
were men entrusted to watch over her safety. They
betrayed their sacred trust because they were blinded
by fanatic hate after what had happened in Amritsar
in the first week of Jime last. They were Sikhs, the
community to which I have the honour to belong. I
have on several occasions described Operation Bluestar
as an error of judgement and am convinced that but
for that one error of judgement, we would not have
had to pay so heavy a price as the loss of a Prime
Minister we all loved and respected nor experienced
the terrible aftermath in which thousands of innocent
lives were lost. Rulers have many hard decisions to
take and Mrs Gandhi must have weighed all the
consequences before she made that fateful decision.
However^ I have not the slightest doubt in my mind
that nothing would have hurt her more than to see
that for a crime committed by two or more individuals
their entire community would be stigmatised and
punished. I fervently hope that our new rulers vnll
honoiu- the memory of our leader by seeing that the
Sikhs are again rehabilitated as trusted and loyal
citizens of their motherland.
And finally, since the nation has chosen Mrs
Gandhi’s son to lead the country, let me assure him
that as long as he treads the right path, we will lend
him our unstinted support in his endeavoiu: to lead
the country to prosperity. This is our prayer for Rajiv:
“Today he puts forth the tender leaves of hope,
tomorrow may he blossom and may the fruits of honour
come thick upon him.”
100
, My BleedingyPunjab-
ftertHe death of her yoiiiiger; son,
x\. accident in May 1980, Mrs X^dH had x)ersiia^
her very reluctant elder son i^jiv to resi^ his pb as^^^^^
airline pilot to he groomed as her su<x»ssor. A year before
her death, she had had him elected (^neral Sea^t
her Congress party. Most ministers of cabinet, and the
chief ministers of states ruled by the Confess p^y
were nominees of RajlvGandln.Ifis succession; as Prime
Minister was taken for granted and ajmounced mth& a
few hom^s of her death. He realised that the best time to
legitimise his nonunalion was ihe soonest possible: when
the sympathy wave was at its height; And the best means
of gaining electoral support was by emphasising J the
villanous role of Sikh terrorists and their design to set
up a sovereign Sikh state, Khahstan, by destro^^g the
unity of India. • ■■ -C V ;
Rajiv Gandhi called the elections a month before
they were due, A massive propag^da campaign was
laimched over the radio network (the jargest in the world
reaching oyer 90 per cent of the population), television
(183 relay stations), the press and through posters. The
Hindu backlash formed the central theme of the campaign;
Day after day, aU papers in India’s 15 Imguages carried
full page advertisements showing barbed-wire entan-
glements and text asking: ‘Wilf the country's border
finally be moved to your doorstep?” And “\Vhy should
you feel uncomfortable riding in a taxi driven by a taxi-
driver who belongs to a different, state?” Huge hoar^gs
showed two Sikhs in imiform shooting aVblOc^-staihed
Mrs Gandhi against the back-drop of a map of India, or
Mrs Gandhi’s body lyingin state with the Cdn^^
candidate’s picture doing homage to her. : '
The'propaganda pmd rich diyidends.^^R^^^
bagged more seats in the Parliament (401 out of 5P8)
101 \
Khushwant Singh
than ever won by his mother at the height of her
popularity or his redoubtable grandfather, Pandit Nehru,
at the height of his. A post-election analysis clearly
indicated that four factors had contributed to the
landslide in Rajiv Gandhi’s favour: an anti-Sikh Hindu
backlash, sympathy for the bereaved son, a splintered
Opposition and the prospect of change under a young
and handsome Prime Minister. Rajiv won by the largest
majority gained by a sitting candidate, defeating his
brother’s widow, Maneka, who forfeited her security
deposit. The second largest majority was gained by Rajiv’s
cabinet minister, H.K.L. Bhagat, in whose constituency
the largest number of Sikhs had been killed.
Whatever diffidence and indecision Rajiv may have
suffered from, he quickly overcame both within a short
time. He had a good presence. He did not lose his temper.
And even more surprising, he was able to speak better
than either his mother or his grandfather. His first speech
over radio and television after his mother’s death was
most dignified. His first broadcast to the nation after he
had won the elections was equally impressive and created
the impression that we had at the helm of affairs a
young man who could deliver the goods — an Indian Jack
Kennedy with the same kind of charm and charisma, a
beautiful wife, a way with words and visions of Camelot.
Whether or not Rajiv Gandhi would be able to
measmre up to the enormous job of taking India out of
abysmal poverty to prosperity without jeopardising its
democratic structrure, how he would tackle problems
created by India’s suicidal rate of increase of population,
how he would put down the all-pervading corruption
and black money when so many of his own supporters
were known to be corrupt or how he worild redeem his
promise of giving India a clean and efficient government
102
My Bleeding Punjab
were then question marks. But most Indians whose
opinions I solicited replied in the affirmative. “He is our
best het ” said one. “If he can’t do the job, no one else
can,” rephed another. Even his critics agreed “we must
give him a chance to prove himself.” I decided to keep
my fingers crossed.
I also made out a list of dos and don’ts for him.
First, he had to restore the rule of law in the country.
Of the many parts of India where lawlessness was then
prevailing, Pimjab should have the top priority. He should
ignore poHticians and political parties and talk directly
to the people. He should have nothing to do with the
Akalis who I felt had disgraced themselves in the eyes
of the Sikh masses, for having reduced the community
from opulence to beggary and from being the stoutest
defenders of its integrity to people whose loyalties were
suspect in the eyes of their fellow Indians. If I were
Rajiv, I wrote, I would go to the Golden Temple, pay
homage at the Harimandir and tell the Sikhs that the
past is buried for ever, and that we must come together
to restore peace in the state and bring it back on the
road to greater prosperity. I assured Rajiv that were he
to do this, the Sikhs would rally roimd him. So would
the Hindus. Bolh communities had had enough of hate-
spreading politicians and were looking for a redeemer.
Rajiv could be that redeemer.
9
Rajiv Gandhi’s Debut
R ^'iv struck the right note by declaring that Punjab
would get top priority. I commended him for this
in a speech I made in the Rajya Sabha on 27th
March, 1985, while warning that the pace being adopted
was still much too slow. This is what I said:
I would like to start by commending the new
government for making a very good start in dealing
with the Punjab problem. The Prime Minister made a
statement straightaway giving Punjab top priority. He
has also set up a cabinet sub-committee. But that was
in January and now we are in March. So far the only
two positive achievements that one can mention are
first, the release of some Akali leaders, and secondly,
whidi I think is more important, the Prime Minister’s
statement at Hussainiwala spelling out certain plans
for the economic recovery of the state. But you will
104
My Bleeding Punjab
agree that for three months, this is not very much.
What distresses me more in recent months is the tone
of smug self-righteousness, bordering on arrogance,
which government spokesmen have adopted when they
deal with the Akalis. It would appear as if all the
angels are on the side of the Congress and the
government, and all the devils are on the side of the
Akalis. You are always ready to talk and the Akalis
are unwilling to do so; you are always very sweet and
reasonable but the Akalis are obstructive; you are
generous, you release the Akalis, but they are
ungrateful because, after having been released, they
have not returned your gesture; you are patriotic, you
have the weight of the country on your shoulders and
they are talking of separatism. You have the
government media in your hands and you have a
subservient press to magnify your views and vilify the
Akalis.
Unfortunately, what you project is not the truth.
It is also not helpful in coming to a settlement in
Punjab because all you achieve with the kind of tone
that you adopt and the way you deal with them is to
make them harden their attitude towards you. They
are now less willing to talk to you. You have announced
that the cabinet sub-committee will be visiting Punjab.
If you had any foresight and statesmanship, something
should have preceded this visit. You know perfectly
well that when you go to Pxmjab, it will be only to see
members of the Congress party or your cronies. The
people you ought to see, and talk to will not see you.
They will not talk to you because of the attitude that
you have adopted.
The issues are pretty clear. We are no longer
talking of the state Chandigarh should go to. We are
105.
Khushwant Singh
not talking of river waters. We are not talking of holy
cities and all those little footling things. We are now
concerned with one major issue. It is the dignity and
the self-respect of a community of 14 million people
whose susceptibilities have been deeply hurt. You have
to learn how to assuage those feelings and win this
commvmity back into the commurdty that comprises
India. On this you know perfectly well that the sine
qua non, without which no dealings with the Akalis or
anyone else can take place, is the institution of a high-
powered judicial commission of inquiry into what
happened after the assassination of the late Prime
Minister. You, Mr Home Minister, have made it appear
as if conceding that inquiry commission will be a great
act of generosity on your part. You made it appear as
if it would be a part of the package deal with the
Akalis. If you have to make a package deal, it will not
be with the Akalis but with the entire Sikh community.
Mr Home Minister, you must have seen that there
are three reports published so far by men of the highest
learning and integrity — academics respected through-
out this land — men like Dr. Kothari; judges, including
a retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and
Justice Tarkunde and some others. Not one of them is
a Sikh. If you have seen these reports, you will realise
what a damaging indictment they have made against
your administration and your party. You do not owe
it to the Akalis. You do not owe it to me. You owe it to
yourself and yoim conscience to have an impartial
judicial inquiry. You must clear yomaelf of the calumny
that has been cast in these reports. And, if you do not
do so, or are not strong enough to do so, it will go down
in the boolcs of history as the biggest black mark
against you.
106
My Bleeding Punjab
Mr Home Minister, just a brief reference to the
situation in Punjab which I had the privilege of visiting
recently. You probably also have got information that
power has slipped out of the hands of the Akalis, as
far as the Sikh masses are concerned. It has now gone
into the hands of yoimg, thoughtless brigands who
have no real backing but are a very angry lot. You
might not have been told that a large number of young
Sikhs today wear saffron turbans — no longer blue or
white. They are wearing saffron because they have
taken an oath of vengeance. What that means, I
shudder to think. You are up against a community
which feels unwanted, isolated, unhappy and sullen.
You have to get round these people and get them on
your side and free them of this atmosphere of hatred
and bitterness that has been created. Although
Bhindranwale is dead, his ghost haunts the Punjab
coimtryside. I happen to be one of the Sikhs, and
perhaps the only one who condemned this man when
he was alive.
Now, I come to the more positive aspect of the
situation. As I said, I welcome the statement the Prime
Minister made at Hussainiwala. He is right in
highlighting the fact that the base of the problems in
Punjab are economic. Prosperity seems to be slipping
out of Punjab. But economic plans are long-term
measures, and the longer they take to be implemented,
the longer we will have to learn to live with instability.
It is well known that the economy of Punjab is
largely based on agriculture. It has been the most
prosperous agricultural state of this country. It was
the first to achieve the Green Revolution. But now it
appears that the Green Revolution is fast approaching
its plateau stage. Almost 83 per cent of the cultivable
107
Khushwant Singh
land is already under cultivation. The size of the
families has increased with each generation and there
is less and less land available to them. The avenues
that young Sikh agriculturists had earlier of going
abroad and getting jobs in England, Canada, the
United States, the Middle East, etc. have closed down.
They have now no future except in Punjab. At the
same time, a curious thing has taken place in Punjab
which many people have not noticed. It is the education
explosion. Just about every little village has a school.
Just about every yoimg man is going to college. He
comes out and discovers he does not know what to do.
He caimot get any jobs, because there are not enough
industries. He is reluctant to go back to the traditional
patterns of work that his ancestors were doing. Your
biggest problem is to absorb this ever-increasing
number of educated young men. That can only be done
if you put in massive industries in the state. If you do
not do it, you, in fact, supply ready material to
fundamentalists and people who believe in the use of
the gun and the pistol.
I can suggest just four or five measures. I am not
an economist, I really have no expertise. But it is
evident even to me that Punjab needs much more water
and power. We have been t alkin g of the Thein Dam.
I saw this Thein Dam under two Chief Ministers —
Prakash Singh Badal and Darbara Singh. Tents were
there. Labom* was there. Maps were there, blueprints
were there, and yet this bloody dam has not come up.
If it had come up, there would have been hardly any
problem of water or hydro-electric energy. Secondly,
Punjab must get a much larger share of hydro-electric
energy generated there. Those who come from Punjab
would know that there are times in winter when the
108
My Bleeding Punjab
poor farmer has to get up at 2 o’clock in the morning
to go and operate his tiibewell because that is the only
time he gets electricity. At the same time, people like
us in Delhi run our air-conditioners. When we have
oin* Republic Day, we light up all our buildings. Where
does this energy come firom? Mainly from Punjab and
at the expense of Punjabis. In cities like Amritsar,
there is load shedding of 6 or 7 hours every day. Then,
we must also have many more agro-based industries.
Punjab has a surplus of wheat, sugarcane and cotton
but do not have enough flour, sugar or textile mills.
Certainly not enough to use all the product of the
state. Now that private industria-Hsts are reluctant to
invest in Punjab, it is the duty of the state to put in
state enterprises to absorb the educated, unemployed
youth of the state,
Pimjab is capable of maintaining a 10 per cent
growth rate in iudustry and agriculture. It has proved
it in the past, it can prove it now. If you bring back
prosperity to Punjab, you can bring back peace to
Punjab. The only condition is that you must have the
will to do so and the honest intention to do so.
Somehow, my own experience of what has happened
in the past does not give me that confidence.
As events were to prove, my pessimism was imcalled
for.
The Rajiv-Longowal Accord
O n Wednesday, the 24th of July, 1985, an accord
was signed between Rajiv Gandhi and Sant
Harchand Singh Longowal. It was a day of victory
of the forces of national integration over those plotting
the country’s disintegration as well as the crowning
achievement of Rajiv Gandhi’s nine months as Prime
Minister. It was an achievement deserving of the awards
of Bharat Ratnas for two men, Rajiv Gandhi and Aijun
Singh, Governor of the Punjab. It is significant that in
these final negotiations, several men who had played
important roles in Punjab’s affeirs in the past were not
consulted. The Prime Minister did not take the Presi-
dent, Cabinet Minister Buta Singh or Barbara Singh,
former Chief Minister of Punjab, into confidence.
Longowal’s team did not include G.S. Tohra, President
of the SGPC nor Prakash Singh Badal, former chief
minister of the state but two lawyer-politicians, S.S.
110
My Bleeding Punjab
Bamala and Balwant Singh, once Finance Minister of
the state. . ^ ^
However, when one examined the eleven-point
agpceement to which Sant Longowal and Rajiv Gandhi
appended their signatures on the evening of 24th July,
one was tempted to ask, ‘^Could not have all this been
agreed upon before? Why did it take three years of
continuous agitation and violence, which embittered
relations between Hindus and Sikhs, to come to a
settlement when most points of dispute had been
amicably resolved at several meetings ’ with the then
Prime Minister, Mrs Indira Gandhi, and leaders of the
Akali Dal ?”
The answer to these questions reflected poorly on
the lack of foresight and statesmanship of Mrs Gandhi
as well as the Akali leaders who came to Delhi to
negotiate with her. On more than one occasion when
almost every single issue had been resolved, either
Mrs Gandhi or the Akalis resiled from their commit-
ments and cast the blame for the breakdown on the
other side. Mrs Gandhi was unduly obsessed with losing
electoral support among Hindus of Punjab, Haryana,
Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and the neighbouring states
and did not want to be seen as one who knuckled under
the arm-twisting tactics of the Akalis. This made her
rigid in her dealings. One example of this was her award
giving Chandigarh to the Punjab but making it
conditional on awarding the tehsils of Fa 2 dlka and Abohar
to Haryana. She refused to listen to the plea that Fazdlka
and Abohar were not contiguous to Haryana and would
need a corridor through the Punjab' to link them to
Haryana. And corridors are provided for only among
sovereign states not between states of one nation. She
was equally adamant over re-opening the issue of the
111
Khushwant Singh
distribution of the waters of the Sutlej and the Beas, of
which only Punjab was riparian, between Punjab,
Haryana and Rajasthan. The Akalis suggested a perfectly
reasonable compromise that the matter be referred to a
judge of the Supreme Court and agreed that they would
abide by his verdict. Mrs Gandhi insisted that if the
issue was to be re-opened, it would go to the River Waters
Tribunal. Such tribunals are notorious for the time they
take to come to a decision. When wanting an excuse to
backtrack, Mrs Gandhi relied on Bhajan Lai, Chief
Minister of Haryana, the most unscrupulous and
mischievous of politicians of post-independent India, to
upset the apple cart. Mrs Gandhi could count on him to
raise objections to any settlement with the Akalis. On
one occasion, when every issue had been settled, Bhajan
Bal organised anti-Sikh violence in several Haryana
towns. The Akalis left the negotiating table in disgust.
On their part, the Akalis were equally shifty and
showed more concern with their personal political
fortunes than the welfare of the community or the
coimtiy. Every few weeks, they added to their list of
demands till it made an impressive total and included
trivia such as re-naming a train as the Golden Temple
Express and declaring Amritsar a holy city etc. Not only
did they keep their morcha going and refrained from
condemning violence let loose by Bhindranwale’s goons,
they alienated themselves from the Indian main-stream
by burning copies of the Constitution on which they bad
taken oaths when they took office as chief ministers and
ministers of the central or the state cabinet.
The three years between the initial launching of
the so-called Dharma Yuddha morcha and its final
termination when the accord was signed were the most
tragic in the history of the Punjab since Independence.
112
It ^as^a lega^ 0f :aild;^^%geM>ahe^
that Rajiv Gandlii inhentedy^pm?^
hack the confidence of the Si^s lafld restore nomalpy
Punjab seemed at the time an alniost; impp
Seyeral factors helped V Rajiv i.Gandhi^ t
Punjabi nettle mth determinatioh. Foie onej he gained a
thinnping wetory at the polls; The single^most important
factor in his tiaumiph was the Offi backlash; ag;^st
what was portrayed as Sikh separatism. The Sikhs had
been denigrated from being first class citizens; of
coxmtry to less than third dass . and their loyalties had
become suspectv The days of the proud Sardar wpre pyer
and he had lost much of his swagger. At long last,
leaders realised the enormpus damage they had donp to
their own community and becprue more .amenable : to
reason. At the same time,; Rajiv, Gandhi andhis adidsers
also sensed the peril of having a community of 14 million
located on the most sensitive border of the country being
in a mood of sullen rebellion. Quite rightly, they gave
affeirs of the Punjab top priority. Akali leaders were
released, the ban on the All India Sikh Students
Federation was removed, special courts were abolished^
and an enquiry into the anti-Sikh violence was mstituted.
All these steps changed the prevailing atmosphere of
despondence into one of hope. People of the Punjab, both
Hindus and Sikhs, had wearied of continuing tensipn
and prayed for the good old times to return. ; i; f
Rajiv Gandhi, and perhaps - more so his chief
confidante, Governor Arjun Singh, played their cards
with- great skill. They knew that Bhajan Lai was capable
of infinite nnschief. P^ortunateiy for them, serious charges
of corruption had been leveUed against him. Rajiv Gandhi
took cognizance of these charges but decided to hold his
hand till' the. appropriate time. Bhaj an Lai s^ the sword
Khushwant Singh
of Damocles hanging over his head. When the settlement
was announced, instead of kicking up a shindig about
Fazilka and Abohar as was expected of him, he meekly
welcomed it as fair to Haryana.
Rajiv Gandhi also took leaders of the Opposition
parties in confidence. Every negotiation with the Akalis
was discussed with them and it was only after he had
sensed their approval for the way he was handling the
problem that he called Sant Longowal to negotiate a
detailed settlement.
There is little doubt that the settlement was widely
acclaimed. There were however a few snags that
remained. The most important of these was the question
of whether or not Sant Longowal would be able to cany
the Akali party with him. The extremist faction led by
Baba Joginder Singh and Jagdev Singh Talwandi had
^dready denounced the agreement as a “sell out". So had
the Sikh Students Federation. None of them counted for
very much. But G.S. Tohra and Prakash Singh Badal
did. Unless they lent their whole-hearted support to
Longowal, there would be serious trouble. Both men
aspired to be chief ministers of the state. Badal had a
sort of lien on the post and I hoped he would come round
to the conclusion that backing Longowal would be his
best bet to regain chief ministership. Tohra was a
notorious self-seeker; for 13 years he had hung on to
being President of the SGPC and had had two terms as
Member of Parliament during which he distinguished
himself by remaining a silent spectator or being absent.
Unless he was snared with the promise of a belly fiiU of
karah parshad, he would prove to be a sticky customer.
If he were to go over to the Baba Joginder Singh camp,
the AkaB party would be splintered beyond repair.
Then there were the terrorists. They had been
114
My Bleeding Punjab
largely contained, but by no means liquidated. They
continued to receive arms, money and encouragement
from lunatic Khalistani elements abroad as well as from
individuals (not the government) in PaMstan. ^though
progressively more isolated, their capacity to foul the
atmosphere could not be under-estimated.
As it happened, the initial euphoria over the accord
did not take long to be dispelled. A month later (20th
August), Sant Longowal was murdered while at prayer.
He had prophesied that Sikh terrorism would end with
his death (mart 3 nrdom). It did not. It was hoped that a
popularly elected government would take the wind out
of the sails of terrorism and easily mop up gangs that
remained. In September 1985, the Akalis won a thumping
victory taking 73 out of a total of 117 seats in the Punjab
Assembly and formed their own one-party government
with Suljit Singh Bamala as Chief Minister. But no
sooner did the Akali government assume office than a
faction led by ex-Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal
and backed by the formidable and wholly unscrupulous
G.S. Tohra expressed their lack of confidence in the
Bamala government. When the police re-entered the
Golden Temple to apprehend militants who had formally
proclaimed a sovereign independent State of Khalistan
and hoisted Khalistani flags- on the Temple’s domes and
minarets, the split in Akali ranks became final. Six
ministers of Bamala’s cabinet including Amarinder Singh
of Patiala, and the Speaker, Ravi Inder Singh, both
wealthy men flying their own aircraft, joined Badal’s
dissident group. Bamala was forced to give ministerial
posts and chairmanships of state-controlled public
corporations to placate those that remained with him.
Even so, he then had perforce to rely on the support of
the Congress party to keep himself in the saddle. The
115
Khmhwani Singh
dissidents were on the ofTensive and steadily gaining
ground. Bamala was on the defensive and aware of power
slowly slipping out of his hands.
Meanwhile, on an average, between three to ten
innocent people continued to be murdered everyday by
thugs who had no personal grudge against them. Most
of the victims were Hindus, their killers largely Sikhs.
Second, and fraught with more serious consequences was
migration. Hindu families living in districts bordering
on Pakistan were pulling out of Punjab. Those who
remained received letters telling them to get out or else!
Between 2,000 to 3,000 Hindus had already left their
homes and shops in Punjab and sought refuge in
neighbouring Haryana, Himachal or Delhi. Third was
the Hindu backlash. Militant Hindu organisations like
the Shiv Sena (no connection with the Bombay
organisation bearing the same name) set up only two-
and-a-half years before had by this time a paramilitary
force of over 30,000 yoimg men armed with sharp-pointed
three-pronged trishuls, the emblem of Shiva, destroyer
of evil. They meant to acquire firearms and out-match
Sikh terrorist organisations like the Babbar Khalsa and
the terrorist wing of the All India Sikh Students
Federation. On 20th June, over 20,000 Shiv Sa in i k s
paraded through the streets of Delhi shouting anti-Sikh
slogans. At night, their women folk went up on their
roof tops to bang their pots and pans with their rolling
pins to “voice” their sympathy with Punjabi Hindu
refugees. Delhi Sikhs got the message. Sikh migration
firom parts of India to the Punjab that had started after
the widespread anti-Sikh violence following the assas-
sination of Mrs Gandhi, picked up again. Sikhs living in
Haryana were likewise made imwelcome by an agitation
of the Haryana Sangharsh Samiti. Many Sikh families
116
My Bleeding I'unjao
living in predominantly Hindu localities began to look
for accommodation near tbeir gurdwaras. For the first
time in the history of Delhi, which always had its Hindu
and Muslim mohallas (localities), Sikh mohallas began
to come up. One was known as Fatehgarh (Victory
Castle), close by a Sanatan Dharma Hindu temple where
some Punjabi Hindu families were given shelter. A clash
between Hindus and Sikhs was averted in the nick of
time by the police.
Northern India became like a room full of inflam-
mable gas where one untoward incident could be like a
hghted match thrown into it and cause a major explosion.
What further added to the already perilous situation
was the spirit of partisanship which had come to peiwade
in the law-keeping forces. Punjabi Hindus complained
against the Punjab police which was largely Sikh. Sikhs
complained against the Central Reserve Police Force
(C.R.P.F.) and the Border Security Force (B.S.F.)
extensively deployed in the Punjab because it was largely
Hindu. They had even less faith in the Haryana and
Delhi police which had a bad record of anti-Sikh bias.
The accord was certainly in danger of being
forgotten. Its most important clauses provided for the
transfer of Chandigarh to the Punjab and compensation
in terms of land and money to Haryana. Haryana had
pinned its hopes on getting the rich cotton-growing and
predominantly Hindu and Hindi-speaking tehsils of
Fasdlka and Abohar as well as cash to build a new capital.
The Mathew Commission appointed to settle the details
denied it these tehsils because of one village, Kandukhera
which voted itself Punjabi and thus rendered its tehsils
not contiguous to Haryana.
Justice Mathews refused to identify Hindi-speaMng
areas and suggested another Commission. The transfer
117
Khuskwant Singh
of Chandigarli to Punjab scheduled for the Republic Day
(26th January, 1986) was postponed. The Second
Commission under Justice Venkataramiah was able to
identify 45,000 acres of Hindi speaking villages and
recommended yet another Commission to locate another
25,000 acres making a total of 70,000 acres as fair
compensation to Haiyana. The transfer of Chandigarh
this time scheduled for 21st June, was postponed to 15th
July. A third Commission under Justice Desai (initially
given 12 ho\ars to keep the 15th July deadline) was a
non-starter as the Bamala government refused to accept
its terms of reference. A fourth Commission was
promised. The Times of India in an editorial (12th July,
1986) noted:
. . . the Centre is at last moving away from the
amateurish practice of setting artificial deadlines —
"Chandigarh to be transferred by January 26”,
“Chandigarh to be transferred by June 21”, “Chandigarh
to be transferred by July 15” — only to become a
prisoner of these dates.
The more important part of the accord and one which
affected the future of farmers in the region was the laying
of the link canal to bring waters of Punjab rivers to
Haryana and Rajasthan. The Punjab government was in
no hurry to dig its part of the 35 miles because of the
dogged opposition of Sikh farmers. Badal denounced the
deal over the river waters. Haryana had already laid its
portion of the link canal and thirsty Rajasthan awaited
the waters flowing in. It seemed likely that the central
government would take the project out of the hands of
the Punjab government to finish the task.
O n 27th February, 1986, I felt compelled to address
the Rajya Sabha again. Once again I condemned the
118
u
The Scenario in 1987-88
T here comes a time in the lives of people when they
find themselves at the crossroads of history — ^when
a wrong decision taken by them can lead them
along the path to ruin whereas a correct decision can
ensure them continuing prosperity and fulfilment of their
historic destiny. Such a moment arrived for the Sikhs in
February 1987. Having overcome the initial onslaught
of the High Priests, Bamala and his assodates called a
meeting at village Longowal. This was the moment when
the Sikhs had to choose between the signpost marked
Khalistan and the other marked Akhand Bharat. They
certainly did not have a third choice of remaining neutral.
The road marked Khalistan clearly led to an abyss which
would spell disaster for the Khalsa Panth as well as for
Bharat. On the other hand, the road marked Akhand
Bharat would ensure them free and equal rights as
citizens of the country in which they were bom and for
120
::l!^Mee(Un^ rj--
which thek forefathers had&giii^^ slie^ih^r^|)lp{^,
rioeheved that ffiose:y^6fi^cid%i(tq:t^
Bhai^ Ihghwayi -lie nieeting at^
the first important It vas; here that Sildis
could reaffirm their loyalty to the l^d of their forefathers
and declare a holy war agamst those who ^h betrayed
their commiinity and country: j appealed to all Sikhs to
take up the battle-cry “Longowal Phalo*', to, make the
meeting a success and thus strengthen Barnaitars
hands.
It was time to refocus on the forgotten Rajiy-
Longowal accord, aud its objectives. State elections, {the
Congress connivance at an Akali victory at the polls,
and the installation of an Akali goyernment under
Bamala was Rajiv Gandhi’s expression of his wish to
undo the errors of the past. Barnala’s stoic efforts to
keep the Akalis and the Sikhs in the Indian mainstream
was an expression of his wish to reciprocate overtures
made by the central government. In these grand designs,
the exact timing of the transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab
and an agreement on the division of river waters became
matters of marginal importance. What mattered most
was that the process of rapproachment should continue.
From the day the accord was signed, sections of
Akahs had, been eager to uspet the apple-cart. Although
they had never seen eye to eye with each other on political
matters,, they , g together to reap the harvest of
stolen:apples thpt they hoped would fall into their hands,
'fhe pnme conspirator was Gurcharan Singh Tohra, With
: Wo?^e a^ m crew of other self-seekers notably
Prakash: Singh , Badffi and Amarinder Singh. Their sole
: . Ap SOming; to^ was to oust Bamala from power
. and. ^ab it Ihemselyes. Hay^ do so legitimately
; : > tlnpui^{|be;:^mocratic ; pi^^a of outvoting , him in: the
Khashwant Singh
legislature, they took to exploiting religious sentiments
to gain control of the SGPC in order to misuse it to
replace the Head Priests of the takhts and get them to
issue Hukumnamahs and edicts against a government
elected by the people.
The SGPC was set up to manage Sikh gurdwaras,
not to make them intb arenas for political battles. Head
Priests were appointed by it to perform religious rituals
and pronounce on the theological matters, not to become
puppets in the hands of politicians. Neither they nor the
SGPC nor any factions of the Akali party had any
authority to convene assemblages of the Sarbat Khalsa
or issue Hukumnamahs which went beyond matters of
a strictly religious nature, just as they had no right to
pronounce ostracism of persons for actions unrelated to
the observance of the Sikh religious code. Messrs Tohra,
Badal and Company broke all these hallowed traditions
to achieve political predominance. They first took over
the SGPC, then ‘misused its authority to sack the High
Priests and replace them with ones of their choice. They
removed the security personnel employed in the Temple
and allowed terrorists to regain control of the Harimandir
complex.
Having consolidated their hold, they had the
conclave of High Priests strike what they hoped woiold
be a fatal blow to Bamala and his Akali Dal by ordering
all Dais to dissolve themselves and merge into their
United Akali Dal. The constitutents of this United Akali
Dal left no one in any doubt about its aims: it was headed
by the maverick police officer Simranjeet Singh Maim
who had never made any secret of his support for
Khalistan and included amongst others. Baba Joginder
Singh, father of Bhindranwale, and Bimal Khalsa, widow
of Mrs Gandhi’s assassin, Beant Singh. Darshan Singh
122
My Bleeding Punjab
Ragii was only an embittered moutbpiece of the supporters
of Khalistan. Bamala, however, refused to walk into their
trap. If they could declare him a iankhaiya^ then the
overwhelming majority of Sikhs who opposed Khahstan
were tankhaiyas too. Never were religious institutions
misused to achieve pohtical ends as- in those,months.
The assemblage at village Longowal assumed
importance because it gave the hitherto silent majority
of Sikhs the opportunity to vocally express their loyalty
to their motherland, to defy the High Priests who were
mouthing their master’s voices and doing their bidding
and who had demeaned hallowed rehgious traditions and
institutions. Besides reafSrming their identity with their
countr 3 mien, I appealed to the Sikhs to assemble at
Longowal and unequivocally condemn the demand for
Edialistan as suicide for the Sikhs, to denounce killers of
innocent men, women and children as criminals and re-
emphasise that gurdwaras must never give shelter to
outlaws. It was time to reaffirm the principle that the
police has the right to pursue fugitives from justice,
whoever they may be. Longowal was the opportunity to
proclaim to the world, “We are Sikhs, we are Indians
and proud to be both.”
Though a huge gathering assembled at Longowal,
and expressed their support for Bamala, it did not give
him much of a respite from the problems beseiging the
state.
The Diwali of that year went uncelebrated in the
Harimandir Sahib. There had been other such Dlwalis
as when Ahmed Shah Abdali blew it up and after
Operation Bluestar. But celebrations were resumed in
the years that followed. Diwali of 1987 went down in
histoiy for remaining uncelebrated for reasons other than
protest against desecration: The Harimandir Sahib and
123
Khushwant Singh
many other gurdwaras had fallen into the hands of young
men, none of whom had electoral legitimacy. They
continued to hire and fire high priests, excommunicate
people they did not like by declaring them iankhaiyas,
make seditious speeches and hoist Khahstani flags. They
siunmoned assemblies of the entire community which,
though attended by a handful of their own types, passed
resolutions in the name of the Khalsa Panth. Although
few people knew their names, they had begun to matter
more than the Panthic Committee, the United Akali Dal,
and the Longowal (Bamala) Dais put together, because
they happened to be in occupation of the sacred premises
and they had gims in their hands.
Quite obviously, the gurdwaras had to be rid of these
subversive elements. And more obviously, the primary
responsibility for doing so rested on the Sikh community
itself. The moot question remained how long it would
take for the Sangat (congregation) to organise itself and
tell these usurpers to get out aud restore sanctity to its
place of worship. And who would the community’s new
leaders be? At this critical juncture,-the Sikhs found them-
selves without a leader who commanded respect and who
could give them guidance. Such a leader had to he either
totally free of party affiliations such as Sants and Babas
are. Or an Akali. Though there were many Sants and
Babas held in esteem by the masses, none had come
forward to shoulder this responsibility. They would
undertake Kar Sewa to cleanse sacred pools or repair
crumbling edifices but did not dare to take the broom to
sweep away human filth. Sikh members of the Congress
or Commvmist parties abstained, firom taking interest m
gurdwara affairs. That left the field to the Akahs, split at
the time into factions and sub-factions.
It did not really matter very much who would emerge
124
My Bleeding Punjab
as the new leader. Whoever he was, I was sure he was
hound to be an embittered man, owing his position to
men even more embittered than himself. This was the
scenario the government would have to face when it
decided to end President’s rule in the state. It would
have to call elections to the SGPC and follow them up
with fresh elections to the Vidhan Sabha. This would
give some idea of the mood of the Khalsa Panth and also
that of other Punjabis. Only then could plans for the
future of the state be made. Equally important, I strongly
felt that it was about time the centred government came
clean about its intentions regarding the Rajiv-Longowal
accord. There had already been enough procrastinating
over fulfilling its terms and foohng of the public by setting
up commissions to determine this or that. Punjabis had
begun to suspect that the government did not mean to
honour its commitments.
Among other things, once again I urged the
government to step up the pace of industrialisation in the
Punjab to provide employment to the increasing number
of young men coming out of schools and colleges. Till that
time I suggested that they should be recruited in massive
numbers into the police and para-military organisations
and be posted out of Punjab for training and earher years
of service. It was essential, I felt, that Punjabi, particularly
Sikh youth, should be exposed to the comparatively less
communally poisoned air to get a national perspective
instead of being allowed to stew in their own juices and be
tempted to take to the path of terrorism.
T n May 1988, 1 raised my glass to Governor Siddhartha
Shai^ar Ray. We had just heard the news that the
Golden Temple complex had been cleared of terrorists.
125
Khushivant Singh
My companions were two distinguished retired Generals,
one a Hindu, the other a Sikh. They responded by raising
their glasses hut not with much enthusiasm.
“I am not sure if there is very much to celebrate,”
said the Hindu General, “we must wait till we know how
the Sikh masses will react. Will they regard it as a
liberation of their Temple from clutches of killers or yet
another Operation Bluestar?”
“This was no Bluestar,” said the Sikh General. “As
a matter of fact, it has shown that this kind of job is
better done by the pohce than the army. Without stepping
into the Temple, they got most of their men alive. No
blasting of sacred buildings by tanks. That is why there
was no uprising of the Sikh peasantiy or desertions from
the army. I only fear that the Akali leaders will try to
make it into another Bluestar. They have no scruples.”
I agreed. No politicians had scruples, least of all the
Akalis. While the terrorists had been in control, not one
of them, neither Akali nor Congressmen had dared to go
near the Temple. Now that the Temple had been cleared,
the Akalis would cry themselves hoarse accusing the
government of desecrating the Temple while the
Congressmen would claim a victory without having the
courage to follow it up by helping to dean it up and
restore its religious maryada (ritual). The greatest danger
was that while most Sikhs agreed that the Temple needed
being cleared of terrorists, and the police rendered signal
service to the community, they also felt the community
had been humiliated. The Doordarshan coverage showing
men being shot and others walking dejectedly with their
hands raised above their heads damaged their self-image
and esteem. A Sikh, even though a mmrderer, must never
surrender. Even Bhindranwale had fought to the last.
I feared that although there was little sympathy
126
, My Bleeding.P^db-^^^%^ ''.y' \
mtK these Mllersj the feeling^ of havm ,
could be turned into anger against^the h
government claim that polip§ action had broken the backs
of teiTorist organisations was, not tenable. ;The massacre
of over forty hapless workers from Bihar and .Orissa o^
the Sutlej-^amuna link;, canal and bomb explosions /in
Haryana and Himachal had shown that there, was , a
reservoir from which terrorists continued to draw h^W
recruits. ,APenta, Manochal or Brahma would inevitably
be replaced: by equally ruthless killers unless the reservofr
of hate was drained to the dregs. The argument went on
late into the night. The euphoria created by the successful
execution of a delicate mission was dampened by the
prospect of politicians making capital out of it. On two
points all three of us were agreed. One, that the police
action si^ould not become a precedent and flushing out
of criminals from places of worship should be left to
worshippers’ organisations. Two, that the relevant laws
should specifically require of those entrusted with the
management of the shrines that places of worship do not
become sanctuaries for killers on the run. Once the doors
of gurdwaras were barred against terrorists and peasants
refused to give them shelter, they would have no place
to hide except a few sparsely covered jimgles or tall-
growbig crops, both of which could be easily combed by
the police.
Siddhartha Shankar Ray was the author of the
epigram, “He who controls the Golden Temple controls
the Punjab.” It so happened that in May 1988,. he
controlled both the Temple and the state. He was assured
of the:, unquestionable control of the state as long as
l^esident;s rule lasted. The .sanie could not be said about
. V ids control over f he Golden Temple complex. He„wprild
; haye^'to ,it, the sooner the better. He knew
127
Khushwant Singh
well that the longer the police controlled the ingress of
worshippers, made them pass through metal detectors
and frisked them, the stronger the resentment against
govenunental interference would grow. There could be
no genuine restoration of maryada unless worshippers
had free access to the Temple and unless it was carried
out by granthis and raagis empowered by the congreg-
ation and not nominees of the government. No Buta
Singhs or Nihang Santa Singhs could meddle in the
affairs of the Harimandir or the Akal Takht. The only
legitimate safeguard, and that also after obtaining
permission of the head granthis and the Jathedar of the
Akal Takht could be to provide that no one would be
allowed in with any weapon save the kirpans authorised
by religious traditions. Carrying of firearms into the
Temple had to be banned forever.
Ray’s immediate problem was to find some indepen-
dent organisation to take over the management of the
Temple. His options were limited. The SGPC was in
shambles. Ever since G S Tohra abdicated his authority
by letting in Bhindranwale and his killer squads, the
head priests or leaders of different terrorist factions had
been calling the shots. The government could not afford
to take the chance of restoring control to the SGPC, still
presided over by G S Tohra, even though he was behind
bars. It could not even afford to have fi'esh elections to
the SGPC immediately. In the past 16 years that Tohra
had been president, he had put his men in command of
vote-banks and would undoubtedly be re-elected for the
17th time.
The other alternatives were Jashir Singh Rode and
Darshan Singh Ragi. The government build-up of Rode
remained an enigma. Here was a man closely related to
Bhindranwale and a member of the Damdami Taksal.
128
My Bleeding Punjab
He had a criminal record and his support for Khalistan
was unqualified. After years of pursuing him, the
government had succeeded in getting him extradited.
He was brought back in handcuff and lodged in Jodhpur
Jail, One fine morning he was released and allowed to
be appointed Head Prjest of the Akal Takht. Whose brain-
child was Rode? Neither Buta Singh’s nor Ray’s. It was
Sushil Muni who lives in the United States who
persuaded one of Rajiv Gandhi’s counsellors to release
Rode and through him, open a dialogue with the
terrorists. The experiment proved to be a disastrous
failiu'e. When released Jftnm jail. Rode emerged a powerful
and dangerous element in Sikh pofitics. Wherever he
went, he drew large audiences. I feared that he would
become another Bhindranwale created, hke his prede-
cessor was created, by the Congress Party and the
government.
The only Sikh to match Rode in communal esteem
was Darshan Singh Ragi. Now that the terrorists had
been cleared jBrom the Temple complex, I felt Ragi could
be persuaded to return to it. By now, he might also have
learnt that he was a much better Raagi than he was a
politician and could be persuaded to stick to hymn-singing
and service of the Harimandir as the head of an
organisation to replace the almost defunct SGPC. He
was the only man who was acceptable to the Sikhs as
well as the administration.
The Akali Party was in total disarray. Numerically,
the more important was the Unified Akali Dal headed
by Amarinder Singh. But I did not see Amarinder Singh
being able to outmanoeuvre his chief rival in the past,
Prakash Singh Badal. Amarinder Singh was suspected
of being a government stooge, keener on becoming chief
minister than leading his party in times of political
129
Khushwant Singh
turmoil. Badal, when he was released firom jail after
Operation Bluestar, had had everything going for him:
the heroic image of a man who had suffered imprisonment
several times including during the Emergency. He had
twice been chief minister, commanding the confidence of
the Pimjabi-Hindus as well as the Jat Sikh peasantry.
He had had all the aces, kings and queens in the hand
served out to him. K he had played them with skill, he
would have had no difficulty in being recognised as the
leader by both the people and the government. But in
his anxiety to earn popularity with the Sikhs, he took to
praising terrorists and accusing the government of
organising fake encounters. Bhindranwale had openly
expressed contempt for Badal. Badal’s attempt to get on
Rode’s bandwagon earned him more contempt and also
forfeited the confidence Punjabi Hindus had placed in
him. He threw away all his trump cards to become a
joker himself.
Little remained of the Longowal faction of the Akali
Party. Not one of them could be reckoned on for more
than being able to win his seat in the next election.
Bamala had lost out by being a gentleman in a gang of
thieves and by being too weak to stand up against the
central government when it failed to fulfill the terms of
the Rajiv-Longowal accord. Balwant Singh, because of
his caste (he was not a Jat) and the very little respect
he commanded for being crafty, was never likely to go
further than being Man Friday to any chief minister.
The rising star in Barnala’s group, Premsingh Chandumajra,
had blotted his book by harbouring terrorists and
exposing himself to charges of extensive corruption during
his short term as minister.
There were other reasons why for electoral purposes
the Longowal group had ceased to coimt. The stuff these
130
My Bleeding Punjab
men were made of was clearly exposed during the ten
days that “Operation Flush Out” lasted. None of them
had dared to go to Amritsar while Rode ruled the roost.
Their brave words were solely, addressed to the
govempient and for public consumption. They wanted to
appear to be doing something for the Panth. They made
sure that press photographers were around when they
were “battling” with the police. At the same time, they
were ringing up police officials and pleading that they
should not be put in Chandigarh jail because it had too
many terrorists who might do violence to them. Besides,
Chandigarh jail had no facilities like fans and air-
conditioned rooms. They were allowed to make angry
speeches, be garlanded by their cronies and photographed
making mock defiance of the poHce. Then they were
driven to the state guest house where several air-
conditioned rooms had been declared jails. Of such men
had Akbar Illahabadi spoken:
Quam kay gham mein dinner khaatey hain hukkam
kay saath.
Ranj leader ko bahut hain, magar qaraam kay saath.
In the affliction of the community, they dine with
their rulers.
Our leader is full of commisseration but likes it
with comfort.
What respect could the masses have for clowns like
these?
The first priority thus was to reorganise the
management of the Golden Temple and other gurdwaras.
Tin a new Act was passed to supersede the Gurdwara
Act of 1925, this could be done by an ordinance which
131
Khushwant Singh
provided the association of respected Sikhs not tainted
by their closeness to the government. The second priority
was to stamp out terrorism. Though in the recent past,
its incidence had been horrendous, I believed that the
cleaning up of the Harunaildir would show that its back
had been broken. Third, I felt that President’s rule should
not be extended and Punjab should go to the polls as
soon as possible. I was sure the old leaders woiild be
swept aside and hopefully, a new breed of men would
take their place. It was for Rajiv Gandhi to make the
long overdue gesture of fiiendship that the Sikhs had
been waiting for; sack ministers whose names were
connected with the holocaust of November 1984 and go
to the Harimandir to reclaim the affection of the Khalsa
Panth.
Rajiv Gandhi did neither, though he, the Governor
of the Pvmjab and his adviser told us that the situation
in the Punjab was fast returning to normal. Terrorism
was being contained and would soon become a memoiy
of the past. They gave us statistics which reassured us.
At the same time, Akali leaders told us that the situation
was getting worse, the number of killings was on the
rise and terrorism would soon become beyond the control
of the para-mihtary forces. They gave us figures which
were totally at variance with those issued by the
government. It was difficult to decide whom to believe.
132
12
Punjab Diary 1989-1992
I n the last few years, I have got into the habit of
keeping a diary on events in the Punjab. Some of
the pages are reprinted here. They record ups and
downs in the scenario, and my own corresponding swings
in mood — often hopeful, more often despondent.
May 1989
I have a Sikh friend in Delhi who drove across the
Punjab to immerse his mother’s ashes in a stream
near their ancestral village which is the Mand area, said
to be the most terrorist-infested in the state. Like most
Sikhs, this friend was very agitated over Operation
Bluestar. After having lived through the November 1984
anti-Sikh violence, he seriously thought of migrating to
the United States. He did not believe a word of the
133
Khushwant Singh
government’s propaganda about the Punjab, and readily
lent his ear to what was spread by the Akalis: that most
young Sikhs had fled the Punjab or were in jail and that
the Hindus meant to wipe out the Sikh community
because they hated Sikhs. I did not really expect to get
an objective assessment of the situation from him.
He spent quite some time in the Mand driving about
freely without being harassed by the police. He visited
schools and colleges where attendance was full. He was
pleasantly surprised to see that the area which had been
submerged under floods last year was under cultivation.
“Every inch of it,” he said. “I will not be surprised if they
break all previous harvest records,” he added. The one
thing that struck him as odd was the number of new
and large gurdwaras that have come up in every village.
“They switch on their loudspeakers in the early hoims of
the morning. All the prayers and the Keertans are taped.
The granthis simply press the button and go back to
sleep. “I don’t understand this phenomenon,” he said.
Nejther do I.
I assured him that temples, mosques and churches
are mushrooming all over the country. It would be
erroneous to deduce that this means a massive religious
revival. Places of worship have become commercial
institutions froni which people with vested interests draw
handsome dividends. The control of a gurdwara is more
.profitable than owning a cinema, a petrol station or a
gas agency. And free of tax,
“Things are not as bad in the Punjab as they have
been painted,” he said. “We living outside the Punjab
believe garbled stories of how grim the situation is. Sikhs
living in the Punjab think we who live outside the Punjab
are having a rough time. Wherever I stopped, people
noticed my Delhi number plate and made anxious
134
enq[uii‘ies others
confirmed my g:ut feeling tliat'
the mend. Give it ia few:;more m
agitation3,:mdrc/ias)and^ pbHticiah&^aad: we-^
end of terrorism and return to peace- and pirospeB^. ^
Ament' ' .-'V-.
June 1989
F rom the Rmjab comes both good and bad news. TOsfe
the bad. KhaHstani terrorists have picked up yet
another target in their netarious designs to divide Hm
from Sikh by concentrating their fire on the Hind
Samachar group of papers published from Jalandhar
and Delhi. That is not hew because they have already
killed the founder Lala Jagat Narain and his son Ramesh
Chandra as well as some reporters. Now they have
trained their guns on poor hawkers who distribute their
papers. They are soft targets because they - are
unprotected: they do not have political bias; most ofthein
can’t even read the papers they hawk. Selling, papers
provides them and their families their dal-roti. TStlmg
them is not going to kiU the Hind Samachar.. On the
contrary, in ail hkehhood, more people would want to
know what is it in the publications that the terrorists
want to prevent their reading them; Their circulation,
already much the highest in' the region j is likely to thus
go up higher. , _
The Hind Samachar. group is atcused of having an
, anti-Sikh bias. This is not true. They have an. anti-Akali
■bias— -which is altogether a dhfereht : matter. lihave, hdd
; many d^^ with them. ! think they were wiong in
Punjabi Hihdhs; to, declare^^^^
Khushwant Singh
tongue, opposing the Punjabi Suba and supporting
Operation Bluestar. However, since they felt they were
right, they had every right to say so. That is what freedom
of the Press is all about. At the same time, they carried
everything I wrote on the language problem, the Suba
movement and Bluestar without changing a single
comma. Pressure was brought on them to drop my
column, but they refused to give in. They regularly carry
long, eulogistic articles on the Sikh Gurus and Sikhism.
Next to Ajit, The Hind Samachar papers are the most
widely read by the Sikhs. I hope they will not give in to
this murderous blackmail.
Now the good news. In two different villages in the
Punjab, gangs of terrorists were taken on by the villagers
themselves without the police being anywhere in sight.
And in both, the villagers beat their would-be killers to
death. That’s the kind of guts villagers have to show to
rid themselves of this menace to civilised living.
And the best news of all was of the two young Sikhs
who laid down their lives and prevented a massacre of
Hindu fellow passengers travelhng in the same bus. This
was true heroism and the kind of martyrdom the Gurus
would have blessed. Their names will be honomred for
years to come. Meer Anees’s lines are apt:
Sab hain Waheed-i-asr yeh ghul
chaar soo utthey
Duniya mein jo Shaheed utthey
surkhroo utthey
All of them are unique in all times.
Let this be bruited in all lands
Wherever in the world men rise to
lay down their lives for a cause,
They rise again covered with glory.
136
My Bleeding Punjab
December 1989
P unjab has a new Governar, Nirmal Mukheiji'and
the country a new Government. Once again, I am
hopeful of a fresh approach to the Punjab imbroglio as
the Janata Dal plan to restore peace in the Punjab begins
to unfold itself. The Prime Minister’s visit to the Golden
Temple accompanied by Chaudhari Devi Lai whom I
regard as the kingpin of the exercise and I.K. Gujral
who commands the respect and affection of both Punjabi
Hindus and Sikhs is the first major step towards erasing
the bitter memories of the desecration of the Temple
during Operation Bluestar. It should create the right
atmosphere for a dialogue. But we must not fool ourselves
into believing that thereafter it will be plain sailing.
Many stormy situations will erupt and unless the
administration is quite clear in its objectives and the
means to achieve them, its boat will be rocked and may
flounder.
I hope they will state in categorical terms who they
will talk to and who they will not talk to. It is best to
eliminate those with whom they will have no dialogue:
those who carry guns in their hands and those who
support Khalistan have no right to sit at the negotiating
table till they give up their weapons and their demand
of a separate state which entails dismemberment of the
country. Will they ask Simranjeet Singh Mann who has
emerged as the top Akali leader what exactly he stands
for before they open a dialogue with him? He cannot
have both Khalistan and take an oath on the Constitution
to maintain the integrity of the country. What does he
mean when he says that he stands by the ideals of
Bhindranwale. Did Bhindranwale support Khalistan ?
He did not say so in clear words but he did so by
implication. He stood for Hindu-Sikh separatism. In fact,
137
Khushwant Singh
he said many hateful things about the Hindus to the
extent of eliminating Hindu presence from the Punjab.
It is the same with the Anandpin* Sahib Resolution.
Portions of it which can be construed as demands for a
separate state must be amended before it is put on the
negotiating table.
The most thorny problem wiU be to find the person
or persons who will speak for the Punjab. Neither
Simranjeet Singh Mann nor Badal, Tohra nor Talwandi
will do; they represent only different factions of the
Akalis. Not all Sikhs are Akalis and no Punjabi Hindu
subscribes to their commimal ideology. Let there be fresh
elections to the Pimjab Assembly so tha*! we know who
the real leaders are. But only after the citizens are assured
that they can exercise their franchise freely and without
fear. They were not able to do so in the recent Lok Sabha
elections, as is clearly evident from the winners. For the
first time Punjab which is predominantly Jat is not
represented by Jats but men and women victims of police
oppression or associated with those charged with conspi-
ring to assassinate Mrs Gandhi and hijacking of an Indian
Airhnes plane. In any negotiation the voice of the Pimjabi
Hindus mxist ho heard alongside those of Punjabi Sikhs.
The Longowal-Rajiv Gandhi accord was murdered
by Rajiv Gandhi. A new accord along the same lines can
be easily re-drawn. Matters which concern both Punjab
and Haryana must be, and can be, sorted out between
the chief ministers of the two states. It is here that
Chaudhary Devi Lai can play a decisive role of a peace-
maker. He was able to come to a settlement with Badal.
He can come to one now.
138
My Bleeding Punjab
June 1990
O ver the last three years I have been maintaining
that terrorists in Punjab are no longer motivated by
religious or political zeal but are simply gangs of dacoits
after loot, peddling smuggled narcotics, abducting the
well-to-do and extorting money from their relatives,
settling family vendettas or murdering people they
suspect of being informers. No matter how they style
themselves — Bhindranwale Tiger Force, Khalsa Libera-
tion Army — or whatever, most of them are neither Khalsa
(many have clipped beards) nor excited by Khalistan.
How else can we explain the cold blooded murders of old
women and children? No AJcali leader, be it Simranjeet
Singh Mann, Tohra, Talwandi or Badal has any hold
over them. On the contrary, they dare not say anything
against them lest they incur their wrath. Give them
what they want: Chandigarh, all the river waters,
boundary adjustments to their hearts’ desire and it will
make no difference. The only answer to thuggery is
Rebeiro’s bullet but with the necessary addition that the
terrorist’s bullets must be met by bullets fired in self-
defence by the people themselves. Neither the police nor
the para-military forces will succeed in wiping them out
unless the common peasantry joins in the crusade. Police
behavioiir has in the past been counter-productive. It is
common knowledge that many police posts in the worst-
affected areas are locked from the inside at night leaving
farmers at the mercy of terrorist gangs. Amd when
farmers in fear of their lives give shelter or food to
terrorists the police vents its ire on them. The adminis-
tration must arm farmers and let them defend their own
villages against marauders. This has been done with
success in several villages in the most terrorist affected
areas. , , > ^
139
Khushwant Singh
I was heartened to see this aspect of counter-
terrorism in a film aptly entitled Kabahoon na chhadai
kheyd— never yield the battle field — taken from Guru
Gobind Singh’s famous invocation to Shiva to grant him
victory. For the first time, Doordarshan portrayed
interviews taken by Rajiv K. Bajaj of Surya showing
village men and women defending their homes with old
muskets and • 303 rifles of World War I vintage. Some of
it was undoubtedly bravado put up for the filming.
Nevertheless, the message came through clearly. Don’t
rely entirely on the police to protect you. Fight your own
battles. Your cause is just and the great Guru will grant
you victory.
I for one am not too impressed by the charge of
killing in faked encounters. I have little doubt that some
encounters are faked to get rid of thugs against whom it
would be impossible to get anyone to give evidence in
court. Avoiding court procedures, however reprehensible
in a civilised society, can be justified in a war situation
of the kind that prevails in certain areas of the Punjab.
Almost all of the men killed in these encounters, faked
or real, have criminal records and prices on their heads.
It has become a war of attrition and has to be fought
according to its o^vn rules.
August 1990
V irendra Verma, Governor of Punjab, has been telling
Punjabis that Operation Bluestar was a blunder.
So did his predecessor Nirmal Mukheiji dining the short
term he ruled the state. It can be assumed that both
Governors had the approval of the National Front
Government to malie these statements. And that they
140
were not made .iionly: ^tb;' appeasa
put the record straig^ht jfor aU Ini^app
Siddhartha Shsmkar oRayJ^alsd^^^a^mitted;. ^;;;p5ivate;;
conversatioirthat. the root cause
in the state was. the stotimng of ithe.G^deh^T^^e^^
the army and the '; unpunished; anti-Sikh^
perpetrated with th'e^ active connivancb^; of , thh; QpiigresX
(I) leaders.. So in the cacophony; pf cohiusih^l^P^pnii;
we have at least ariived at a;Cpnserisus;on the dia^psisi
of the sickness that has affhcted:the-PiUaj^,
When I lodged my formal protest- ag^st;B|ues]foi-:
by returning the Padma Bhushaii' coi^rredvpn
was roundly condemned as a Sikh communahst;^^
flooded with abusive letters; telegramk and phorip calls^
The fact that I had also conderoned Bhmdrahwafo:i^^^^
was threatened with elimination by his foilowefs;;^^
conveniently forgotten. Now ! feel vindicated; I :W^^
feel happier if it is recognised that what I did; vh’ofo^^
spoke was not as a Sikh but as an Indiah.^^^^';:
More strongly than ever before, I feel that, the ^l^ite
Paper on the Punjab Agitation issued by Mrs; Gandhi’s
government and endorsed by the two Houses of Parlia-
ment should be suitably amended or put in a garbage bihi
The first part detailing the sequence of Akali morehas;
the anti-Hindu tirades of Bhindf-ahwale and theonolence
triggered off by them are matters bf historical fact which’
cannot be controverted. It is time we adnutted that what
is missing from these pages is the government’s
connivance in. the building up of Bhindrahwale, aUom
arms to be smuggled into ;the Temple complex r
backtracking Prom settlements' with -the iAkaH ;leaders
after a^eeing bn all pointSiCi^The lfohgowM^Rajiv.G
accord was ' almost entirely based; on f these; earlier
. settlements). What .is largely fahricationds phe sequence
Khushwant Singh
of the armed confrontation between Bhindranwale’s well-
entrenched followers and the invading army, the casual-
ties on either side, the loss of innocent lives and the
damage done to sacred property. It is now abundantly
clear that the army botched up the operation, the death
toll on either side (and of pilgrims caught in the crossfire)
was much heavier than mentioned in the White Paper.
The destruction of the Akal Takht, the entrance to the
central shrine and the archives remains as shrouded in
black silence as the names of men, women and children
who lost their lives in the encounter. How, in full knowledge
of all this. President Zail Singh was persuaded (or coerced)
into decorating officers and men who took part in the
Operation with awards for gallantly, boggles the imagi-
nation. The most convincing argument against Operation
Bluestar was Operation Black Thxmder carried out by
marksmen. There was no damage to sacred property and
the loss of life was minimal — only two killed. No offence
was caused to Sikh sentiment.
One major undertaking given by the National Front
Government remains unfulfilled. And seeing the little it
has done in that direction in the seven months it has
been in power seems likely to remain unfulfilled — this is
regarding the pimishment to be meted out to perpetrators
of the anti-Sikh pogrom in November 1984. l^y is it
dragging its feet on what was undoubtedly the vilest
deed in the history of India since Independence?
We must learn to look upon such events not as
Hindus, Muslims, Christians or Sikhs but as Indians.
Bhindranwale was an evil man; the Akalis were dishonest
in inflating their demands, “Bluestar^ was a Himalayan
blunder, “Black Thunder” was not; the killings of
innocents in 1984 was diabolic; the reluctance to punish
criminals who perpetrated it is a continuing crime. ,
142
December 1990 , ,
I t grieves me to note that our protest against the code of
conduct for the media dictated by the so called Panthic
Committee (no one knows how many there are) has claimed
its first victim in the cold-blooded murder of Rajender
Kumar Talib, Station Director of All India Radio in
Chandigarh, He was only doing his duty and had nothing
whatsoever to do with the discussion that had been
recorded earlier by the Delhi Radio Station between
S, Sahay, ex-Delhi Editor of The Statesman, the retired
Director General of AIR and Doordarshan and myself
with C.S. Pandit acting as the moderator. All we said was
that no one had the moral right to tell the media what it
should or should not say — neither the government, nor
proprietors of papers nor the public. Media people worth
their salt have their own personal codes of conduct of
which the most important is that they must never give in
to pressure of money or power, nor knuckle under threats
of violence. This so-called Panthic Committee had issued
a diktat which required us, amongst other things, to use
the honorofic Sant before the name of Bhindrairwale and
describe terrorists as freedom fighters for Khalistan. I
remember when I was Editor of The Hindustan Times ,I
had issued instructions that the title Sant was never to be
used with the name of Bliindranwale.
Bhindranwale was then alive. I have never used
the title nor have any intention of using it in the future.
As for the Panthic Committee's freedom fighters, I
described them as looteyrey (robbers) because that is
exactly what I think they are: killers of innocent men,
women and children, abductors and rapists, living on
extortion and smuggling of narcotics. It can be held
against me that I am bold enough to say all this because
I live in comparative security provided to me in the
143
Khushwant Singh
Capital. What about media persons in Punjab who are
exposed to these gunmen all the time and have already
lost over 150 of their colleagues to the killers? There is
little people like me can do for them except express our
sympathy and solidarity. It is for the government to
provide them better security so that they can discharge
their duties without fear. The battle for the freedom of
expression has to be fought to the bitter end no matter
how many of us fall to the assassins’ bullets. In the end
it is we, wielders of the pen, who toII win and not thugs
armed with AK— 47 rifles.
April 1991
E ver since the ninth Lok Sabha was dissolved and
fresh elections were announced I have been rung up
periodically by foreign radio and TV networks to comment
on their likely outcome. I hedge my answers with lots of
ifs and buts becfause I am as confused about the future
as anyone else. However, when they ask me whether or
not I am for having elections in the Punjab and Assam,
I can’t get away with vague generalities; the answer has
to be yes or no. Since I am not well acquainted with
conditions in Assam, I answer honestly: “I do not know.”
About the Punjab hitherto my answer has been “no, there
is far too much violence in several districts and little
likelihood of people being able to vote freely and without
fear.” Those who have heard me have accused me of
being unfair to my home state by supporting those who
persist in denying its right to have a democratic
government. The argument for elections runs somewhat
as follows: we must break the impasse by opening a
dialogue with supporters of Khalistan like Mann and
144
My Bleeding Pjifijah I
the teri’prist groups; that once hot-headed people are
given responsibility; they cooL down: and act respohsihly;
and that at the worst, if they persist in their:secessionist
demands, there is nothing to stop the centrar; govern-^
ment from stepping in and disrdissing them.. This is how;
I interpret Chandra Shekhar and his governments
approach to the Punjab. I regard it as both foolhardy
and dishonest. Foolhardy, because on the one hand
Chandra Shekhar maintains that he will only open
dialogue within the framework of the Constitution; bn
the other, he negotiates with people who openly proclaim
defiance of the Constitution and want to break away
from India, It must be abundantly clear to hiin that as
long as thousands of armed young men roam about the
countryside, elections cannot be free or fair. If there is
no violence, it wiU only be because no one will dare to
question the all-pervading presence of armed gangsters;
The police and para-military forces may see that no
violence erupts during the poll, but who will protect the
people from vengeance after ihe law-keeping forces are
with(frawn? Why I think Chandra Shekhar is also being
dishonest is that he knows that the separatists wifi see
that no Congress, Communist or B JP candidates win in
any constituency. He will thus bequeath a solid separatist
representation from the Punjab to the Lok Sabha to the
man who will succeed him as Prime Minister. And worse,
if elections aije also held to the State Assembly, almost
certainly the first thing Mann and his supporters will do
is to pass a resolution demanding Khalistan and give a
semblance of legitimate demand. Is the gamble worth
Khushwani Singh
December 1991
L ast week I had the privilege of hosting a meeting of
some of the top politicians and journalists of the
Punjab. They represented different shades of opinion:
Akali, Congress, BJP and Communist. They did not wish
to be named, but some day, if they allow me, I will
divulge their identities. All of them were important
enough to be escorted by swarms of security men : Black
Cats, CRPF, Delhi Police. My little apartment looked a
fortress besieged. They did all the talking; except for an
occasional query, I did all the listening. I put down what
they said as representative of the feelings of common
Punjabis barring rabid elements led by Simranjit Singh
Mann and dacoits who go under the names of different
gangs of te'rrorists.
They were of one opinion that in Punjab, Pakistan
is fighting a war by proxy against India. There was some,
difference of opinion about the niunber of training camps
in Pakistan, but irrefutable evidence that they exist,
train young Indians in the use of sophisticated weapons,
furnish them with arms and ammunition free or at
throwaway prices and help them to infiltrate back into
India. The weaponry now includes not only automatic
rifles but rocket launchers and shells that can
incapacitate tanks, and stringer missiles as well. The
fifth column that Pakistan is building up in our Punjab
could become the most dangerous hazard to us in the
event of hostilities breaking out. This was the only point
on which I expressed my reservations as I feel that far
too often we use Pakistan as an alibi when we can’t
handle our own affairs. However, they stuck to their
opinion and maintained that Pakistan was most certainly
involved in Punjab’s turmoil.
The second point they made was that in districts
146
My Bleeding Punjab
bordering^ on Pakistan, there is virtually no government
and lawlessness prevails, People are robbed and
murdered at will, their women folk abducted, raped and
maimed; money extorted from shopkeepers, tradesmen;
professionals and landowners. The robbers have no-
dearth of recruits; they offer them double the wages
they can get as policemen or jaivans, more if they have
received training in the army or the police, and if killed
in encounters, their families are handsomely compen-
sated. Despite this, the common peasantry of the districts
of Majha is throughly fed up with the depredations of
these gangsters and only needs a strong leader who can
bring them together to combat them.
Under the circumstances, to talk of holding elections
in the Punjab is highly irresponsible and dangerous.
People should not be fooled by Mann’s argument that
the last Lok Sabha elections had record turnout and
there was no violence. They were by no means free or
fair because the people were coerced by the presence of
armed gangs to go and vote for candidates of Mann’s
Panthic Party. No amount of poHce or military presence —
which perforce can only be for a few days during the
election campaign and polling — ^will give the necessary
reassurance to the people to msike their choice freely.
There must be no elections in the Punjab till terrorists
have been wiped out otherwise the state legislature will
be heavily dominated by subversive elements who will
inevitably act against national interests.
Akah factions have lost all credibility among the
Sikhs. Most of them, including Tohra and Talwandi
having suffered bullet wounds at the hands of killers,
are now thoroughly demoralised and unwilling to face
them. Badal has tried to gain favour with them by
attending bhog ceremonies of slain killers misnamed
147
Khushwant Singh
shaheeds (martyrs). Not one of the top Akali leaders has
been bold enough to condemn the kilhng of innocent
men, women and children and only harps against police
excesses and organised fake encounters. The only
exception is Amarinder Singh of Patiala who has, at
long last, spoken and written against the dacoits
masquerading as Khalistanis.
The immediate need is to strengthen the hands of
the Punjab pohce, which, being predominantly Sikh, is
in a better position to combat killer gangs, also largely
Sikh. They have better chances of support from the Sikh
peasantry than the CRPF or the Border Security Force
which are looked upon as outsiders since most of them
cannot even speak Punjabi.
A big mistake is to put captured gun-men and their
uncommitted supporters in the same jaU. We know from
people who are put in close proximity, their leaders use
the opportunity to indoctrinate novices into becoming
hardliners. Tliis has been amply proved by the Punjab
experience: young boys who spent a few months in prison
with hardened criminals, come out as hardened criminals.
They should therefore be dispersed to jails outside the
state.
The Punjab problem has to be tackled on all fronts:
emotional, religious, economic and political. It is not as
insolvable as it may appear to outsiders. The one
redeeming feature of the Punjab scenario is that far from
dividing the Hindu from the Sikh, goondaism has brought
the two communities closer to each other than ever before.
All is not lost: what the Punjab needs today is a strong,
enlightened government willing to combine stem methods
with compassion.
148
Mx\BleedihgPunJ^
December >; (^'ccv/: : -■■v:'
jrp he Home' Mimster^^caUe^^ 'all
^ Jl ed^se'him how;to 'get the better;^p£terto^s5mm
Punjab. Those; who matter tiiraed down ‘his-
Those who accepted mattered less but let- off: a lot: of hot
steaihv I don’t; know ' what the minister got but of : thd
exercise/' •'
The questions were simple: Why does tefrqrism
continue?' -What can we do to combat it? The answers
were not so simple. Terrorists are ho longer religiously
or pohtically motivated; they are gangsters who .rob,
abduct and extort money, commit rape and murder; They
cover up their thuggery by giving themselves fancy titles,
and pretend religious and political motives to gain some
legitimacy. What still rankles in Sikh minds is Operation
Bluestar and unpcLoished murders of thousands of innocent
people following the assassination of Mrs. Gandhi.
Nothing much can be done about them now. However,
in order to deprive terrorists of any excuse to continue
their depredations, the least the government can do is to
express official regret for “Bluestar” and withdraw its
spurious White Paper, It could also disassociate itself
from men named by several hpn-pfficial commissions ' of
inqiiuy for havmg played nefarious roles in the November
1984 killing. Then it must state clearly and categorically
that there wiU be no dialogue with representatives 6f
gangsters or with supporters of ^alistan. Successive
gbyernments have been , very inconsistent in, their
dealings with them. They mpst realise that by extending
them invitations for talks, they sap the, morale of the
. .The .moot question is ; why,; despite ithe niassive
deployment .of; the,, army, ;par,a-milita:^ forces: and the
police, terrorists continue, to . get, fresh recruits to their
149
Khushwant Singh
ranks? Again the answer is simple. The presence of armed
might has failed to protect life and property of the
common people and they have no option hut to come to
terms with terrorists. For this the government can only
blame itself. There also have been many incidents of
violation of human rights, extortion and torture in prison
of suspects. This has turned many law-abiding citizens
into terrorists.
Once elections take place, new leaders will emerge.
A new accord covering Chandigarh, border adjustments
and distribution of river waters must be made with them.
Following a new accord, the government must embark
on a massive plan of industrialisation with the help of
Punjabi NRIs who are more than eager to do something
positive for their home state.
January 1992
T he agenda document on Jammu and Kashmir and
the Punjab issued for the consideration of the
National Integration Council makes a grim reading. It
admits that the situation in the Valley of the Jhelum
poses “the gravest threat to national unity and integrity,”
that over the last three years thousands of terrorists
have received training in Pakistan; and Pakistan is now
fighting a proxy war against India with trained terrorists
using sophisticated weapons like rockets, Kalashnikovs,
grenades and mines and engaging our security forces;
that the feeling of alienation in the Valley is higher than
ever before; that terrorist violence has paralysed the
economy; and Pakistan is carrying on vigorous anti-India
propaganda in international forums like the United
Nations, NAM and Islamic organisations.
150
P iiTij flh baa heeii! troubled for Jtoa^
last ten years; oye^ 'idiOpb , rnn^ent
murdered:, the figi^es for the ye^ juat ended
than those of the years before^ appraj^ating^jOP^
That gives the He to tbb clairh that ,v^
of the army, the number pf MlHngs has sbatply ddcl^
It has in fact increased and terrorists hay end pi
fresh recmits to jom their gangs^ In dhis state,; terton^^
haye specially airaed , their guns ai: policemen; and bhpte
famihes; they are enforcingin tlieir diktats on how;
should dress, what they should eat and ckink;;hpw
should conduct them busmesses; . what orders tea^strates
and judges. should pass. ;
As in the case of Kashmir so in the case; of Punjab,
the course of subversiye activities is chalked out -by :;a
conclave sitting in Pakistan. They are determined to see
that no elections take place in the state. =
Already 24 candidates for the VidhaU J^abha and
three for the Lok Sabha have* been slain; Neverthlessi
we have committed ourselves to holding fresh elections
next month.
What constructive suggestions can :thd National
Integration Council, consisting of over 140 inembet
meeting for a few hours, make? What are the dptions
open to us? Only three. One, to go on doing what we are
doing to contain terrorism by deployment of larger forces ;
two, to go to war against Pakistan and hopefully settle
the matter once for- all times— ra course : which only
lunatics would advise; and finally to open a^ dialogue
with Pakistan on^ the future; of the Valley; (excluding
Ladakh and Jammu) and araive 'at some settlement
which; would be acceptable 4o^ the people of the * Valley
V ; ^d be indorsed by both hidia^aM;Paidst^;>;Once^^^^
; Pakistan '^f lose intmest m
Khushwant Singh
and Khalistani militants will lose their base and
sustenance.
February 1992
S o much has been happening in the Punjab at the
same time that it looks like a modem impressionistic
painting. No one can be sure what it represents. One
thing is sure — ^it will have elections in a few days. How
many people will vote (or be allowed to vote without
fear), how many parties will put up candidates openly
and how many will do so surreptitiously, no one really
knows. The decision ultimately rests with the militants
who continue to call the shots. Their main targets will
be the Akalis who, despite their bluster and bravado, have
proved themselves not only to be muddle-headed but
chicken-hearted as well. Will they leave the field wide
open to the Congress and the BJP? That will be a great
pity. I am sure what the Punjab needs is an Akali govern-
ment committed to the Constitution led by Amarinder,
Bamala, Badal or Sukhjinder. It will be in the best
position to contain terrorism.
What about the terrorists? Haven’t they had enough
of killing and being killed? My information, for whatever
it is worth, is that they have and would be happy to
make an honourable settlement. Rajesh Pilot, the only
minister firdm the centre to visit the most terrorist-
infested areas of Taran Taran, was given a tum\iltuous
welcome. He dispensed with his secmity and had long
talks with their leaders. It transpired that what they
asked for was release of their comrades held in custody
without trial, cessation of police and army activities
against them, implementation of the Rajiv-Longowal
152
My Bleeding Punjab
accord and setting up of a major industry in every district.
No one spoke of Khalistan. None of this seems unreason-
able or impracticable. All it needs is courage to go ahead.
Lret us have no more consultations with Chief Ministers
or political parties. No more commissions to go into this
or that. Let the government make whatever decisions
they deem fair to Punjab, Haryana, Himachal and
Rajasthan regarding Chandigarh, boundary adjustments,
distribution of river waters and present them to the states
concerned as final. Let them appoint one minister who
has no other job except to see they are implemented
within a few months. At the moment the man most
acceptable to the central government as well as the
parties concerned is Rajesh Pilot. Let him pilot this
package deal to bring it to a happy conclusion. There
will be a lot of mischief-makers raising all kinds of
firivolous objections: there will be carping and criticism
within the cabinet. It should be ignored. Let dogs bark
but get the caravan of peace to resume its march.
February 1992
W hen Punjabis celebrate some great achievement
they dance the bhangra and yell 0 bailey! bailey!
The last election does not call for any sort of celebration.
Less than a quarter of the people went to vote: the bullet
and the boycott did in fact score over the ballot and
common sense. The gains can be counted on two fingers,
the losses on the fingers of both hands. First, the gains.
Governor’s rule is over; an elected chief minister and his
cabinet take over the administration. The Congress party
gains another twelve seats in the Lok Sabha and edges
closer to the half-mark. A few more wins and it may fi:ee
itself of reliance on the backward-looking BJP, reckless
153
Khushwant Singh
socialists and regional parties. That is about all there is
on the plus side. The debit side has many more items.
The most important is the absence of a mandate. Beant
Singh and the Congress Party do not in fact reflect the
wishes of the people of the Punjab— only of less than 20
per cent of them. The blame does not lie with them but
with the AkaUs who threw away a golden opportunity to
assert their nmnerical superiority. They succumbed to
threats of violence issued by terrorists and will hereafter
remain mouthpieces of gun-toting gangsters. They will
not even be allowed to retire into pastoral oblivion as
many would like to but be bullied by terrorists into
launching agitations and keeping the Punjab pot on the
boil. The Akalis have good reasons to shift some of the
blame on to the central government which did not give
them an 3 dhing to talk about in their election campaign.
It will undoubtedly do so now to strengthen the hands
of Beant and Company. And inevitably allow Beant to
get more mileage out of releasing Akali leaders when he
feels more secure in his saddle.
The question that will remain unanswered is will
the new set-up be better able to combat terrorism and
bring peace to the Punjab? Scarcely so. Without the
people’s whole hearted co-operation, there is little prospect
of nabbing teiTorists. The measly tiumout at the polls
has clearly shown that the peasantiy will not stick their
necks out for this government and terrorism will continue
luiabated. There is no occasion to dance the bkangra,
nothing to yell bailey! bailey! about.
154
Conclusion
E ver since the word Khalistan was coined, I have
done my best to enter into dialogue with its
supporters to find out exactly what they have in
mind, I have failed to meet a single individual who could
rationally explain to me its concept, its geographical
boimdaries, its religious composition and its proposed
political and economic set up, I had two long meetings
with Ganga Singh Dhillon. His reading of Sikh religion
and history was woefully wrong and he evaded answering
direct questions. On a visit to England, however, I was
able to acquire some documentation on the subject which
reveals the total confusion in the minds of its supporters.
One is a detailed map of Khalistan — ^the first that I have
seen. It is published in England priced at £2 but no date
of publication is mentioned. According to this map,
Khalistan will include Jammu, the whole of Himachal
Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, chunks of Uttar Pradesh,
155
Khushwant Singh
Rajasthan and Saurashtra to give the state an outlet to
the sea. By rough reckoning , the Sikh population of this
state will be no more than 13 per cent of the total. What
kind of Sikh state will this be? Quite clearly, not
democratic. Nevertheless, a boxed item explaining the
concept describes it as “a sort of paradise on earth”. It
has ten signatories led by a gentleman named Jaswant
Singh Thekedar styling himself as “Defence Minister
Khalistan Government”. Do Simranjeet Singh Mann and
his supporters accept this map as the geographical
concept of Khalistan?
My second acquisition is a pamphlet apparently
emanating from Pakistan because on its cover it has
photographs of the Minister of Religious Affairs of
Pakistan visiting Nankana Sahib. Inside is a page
entitled “Wait & See”. Beneath it in Gurmukhi is an
extract alleged to have been taken from Sau Saakkhee —
a spurious document ascribed to Guru Gobind Singh.
From time to time new versions of these so-called
prophesies are published to suit aspirants to power. I
have two in my possession: one prophesying Maharaja
Dalip Singh’s return as ruler of the Punjab; another
published in 1946 promising the Kingdom to Maharaja
Yadavendra Singh. This one prophesies widespread
bloodshed, invasion of India by China and Russia and
promises the throne of Delhi to the Khalsa. The
fabricators of the document did not realise that towns
like Ambala did not exist in the time of Guru Gobind
Singh: it was a tiny hamlet Ambwali raised into a
cantonement by the British and renamed Ambala. I will
not be surprised if in its next fabrication, Simranjeet
Singh Mann’s name is inserted as the King of Khalistan.
My third acquisition is a booklet entitled Raj
Kareyga Khalsa? by Iqbal Kaiser published in Lahore in
156
My Bleeding Punjab
1984. It is in Punjabi written in Urdu script. To my
chagrin I find it begins with Ajit Caur’s article based on
what I had seen in Amritsar soon after Operation Blue-
star. It gives a brief account of the rise of Bhindranwale,
his clash with the Nirankaris and the reasons why the
government deliberately created conditions to justify its
attack on the Golden Temple. The prospect of Khalistan
coming into existence is left with a question mark. What
I found amusing was the authors dedication of the copy
to Dr. Jagit Singh in Gurmukhi: instead of giving the
venerable propounder of Khalistan’s proper surname
Chauhan, he writes it as Choohaan. A slip perhaps
indicating the Doctor’s return into the hole of oblivion.
How seriously then can anyone take the threat of
Khalistan?
W hat requires serious thought and action however
are the ground realities in Pimjab. One thing that
has not changed is continuing violence; it has been with
us since Bhindranwale rose over the Punjab firmament.
We had grievously underestimated the number of
terrorists and their hold on the peasantry in certain
districts. We have been fed with wishful data of the
numbers killed or apprehended by handouts issued by
the police. The terrorists have managed to murder on an
average of between five to a dozen innocent men, women
and children daily and rob banks of large sums of money
including one haul of Rs. 6 crores. Whatever be the
number of terrorists successive poHce commissioners may
claim to have bagged, there seems no noticeable decline
in their nefarious activities. What is more disheartening
is that so far there is no concrete evidence of a people’s
movement against terrorism. On the contrary, fix)m the
157
Khushwant Singh
way most terrorists manage to get away after committing
crimes, it can be presumed that there is tacit acquiescence,
fear or indifference towards them. No one is willing to
stick his neck out to pursue them and help the police.
When it comes to choosing between terrorists and the
police, most people say that they fear the police more
than the terrorists.
This is a very unhappy state of affairs because there
is little prospect of getting the better of terrorism -svithout
the active cooperation of the people. And there can be no
lasting solution to Punjab’s problems till teiTorism is
stamped out. Inevitably, combating teiTorism must be
given top priority.
Fortmiately, some steps have been taken in that
direction. Tension with Pakistan some time back gave the
central government the excuse to mass troops in the
districts most affected by terrorism, which were the chief
inlets of arms smuggled from Pakistan. One hopes that
the Pakistan border has been effectively sealed. The
composition of terrorist gangs has also undergone a
radical change. Religious fanatics who predominated
during the days of Bhindranwale and the period
immediately following Operation Bluestar have been
largely eliminated. What remain are protagonists of
lOialistan, Naxalties, smugglers, robbers and common
criminals. The common people may not help the police
in pursuing them but they are getting more and more
reluctant to provide them means of escape. It should
also be noted that targets seem to have changed.
Evidently, they have abandoned their earlier plan to
terrorise Punjabi Hindus and force them to leave Punjab
and in return provoke a Hindu backlash in other parts
of India and force Sikhs living there to migrate to Punjab.
Their attempt to create a de facto Khalistan has failed
158
My Bleeding Punjab
because the mass of Sikhs has refused to respond to the
notion of a separate Sikh state.
Of course, still more needs to be done to wipe out
terrorism. The most important of them is to see that
Sikh gurdwaras retain their sanctity and are not allowed
to become sanctuaries for fugitives from justice or provide
platforms for politicians. It is well-known that he who
controls the Harimandir (Golden Temple) controls the
minds of the Sikhs. Unfortunately, the Harimandir and
the adjoining Akal Takht are currently imder the control
of the SGPC and head priests nominated by it who
support the notion of a separate Sikh state and are
reluctant to denounce terrorists. This is equally true of
several other important Sikh shrines. The cleansing of
the gurdwaras is entirely the duty of the Sikh sangat
(congregation). In most places sangats rue the absence
of religious fervour that used to pervade their temples
before they were politicised. There is reason to hope that
these sangats will assert themselves and oust priest-
politicians as their forefathers ousted heriditary mahants
from control of their gurdiuaras. Otherwise they will have
to put up with the police regularly entering their temples
to apprehend law breakers. There can be no compromise
with the principle that where there is a criminal, the
police has the right to be.
Two other aspects of the terrorist problem must be
borne in mind. First is the influx of yoimg men into
their ranks. There is reason to believe that a sizeable
number joined them after the killing of innocents in
encounters falced by the police, Mr Rebeiro admitted that
there have been cases of unidentified people being shot
and brutality by the pohce. This must be put an end to
immediately: it is better that 10 murderers escape than
kill one innocent person. It is equally important to bring
159
Khushwant Singh
to book people responsible for tbe killings of Sikhs
following the assassination of Mrs Gandhi. So far not
one person has been brought to trial for the most
horrendous massacre since Independence. On the other
hand, some people named as guilty by independent
commissions of inquiry have been rewarded with
ministerial positions and a clumsy attempt made through
the Misra Commission to sweep this mimky episode under
the carpet of oblivion. It is too much to expect the Sikh
community to forgive and forget the murder, mayhem,
rape and arson perpetrated on over 5,000 of their co-
religionists. It also puts a black spot on the face of the
nation. What is worse, it gives justification to the
terrorists who can then rightly taunt others to ask: “What
justice can Sikhs expect fi:om a government which refuses
to punish murderers of Sikhs?” We should realise that
crimes unpunished breed criminals.
The second priority after putting down terrorism is
to restore Hindu-Sikh relations to what they were before
Bhindranwale started making his hateful utterances
against the Hindus and his gangsters started desecrating
Hindu temples and slaying innocent people. Fortunately,
despite the continuing violence over the past five years
the vast majority of both communities continue to live in
harmony. It is significant that in all this period there
has not been a single instance of Sikh mobs attacking
Hindus. Unlike what happened after Mrs Gandhi’s
assassination when Hindu mobs attacked Sikhs; in the
Ptmjab all killings have been carried out by small gangs
against individuals. Hindu-Sikh marriages between
castes that used to intermarry continue as before.
Although the number of Hindu worshippers at Sikh
gurdwaras has declined (as has the numbers of Sikhs
themselves) they are still to be seen in large niunbers.
160
My Bleeding Punjab
Sikh pilgrims can still be seen at Hindu places of
pilgrimage and taking ritual baths in the Ganga.
It will not take much to fiirther the process of resto-
ring communal harmony. Hindus believing in Sikhism
(there are millions of them) should resume worship in Sikh
gurdwaras. Even orthodox Hindus should make it a point
to visit gurdwaras and thus give Sikhs a feeling of reassu-
rance that they regard Sikhs as a part of their community.
A ccording to The Statesman of 22nd May, 1989,
criminals who murdered Dr. Ravinder Ravi, writer
and professor, in Patiala had four other names on their
hit hst: Playwright Gmcharan Singh Arshi, Editor of
Nauian Zamana, CPI leader Jagjit Singh Anand, novelist
Kulbir Kang, and myself. Although I have put my name
last, I am apparently on the top of this mini hit hst.
According to leaders of the All India Sikh Students
Federation, the Khalistan Commando Force and
Khahstan Liberation Force, our heads are to roll because
of our “anti-Sikh writings.”
I think it is time these killers were told in plain
language,what is and what is not anti-Sikh. At the risk
of being accused of indulging in self-praise, I will start
with myself. What the English-speaking world knows of
the Sikhs, their religion, history and their achievements
is largely through my books published in America and
England. All the entries on Sikhism in the Encyclopaedia
Britannlca are mine. I, more than any other person, am
called upon by foreign radio and television networks for
comments on events in the Punjab, particularly regarding
161
Khushwant Singh
the Sikhs. I have never made myself out to be a man ot
religion but zealously retain my Sikh identity and am
emotionally involved in the Sikhs fortunes. I condemned
Bhindranwale because I regarded him as anti-Sikh; I
condemned Operation Bluestar because I regarded it as
anti-Sikh and anti-nation. I condemn terrorism because
killing innocent people is condemned by our gurus as a
sin. I make no distinction between Hindu and Sikh
victims of violence: my heart goes out to the widows and
children who have been deprived of their bread-earners
and I do the little I can for them. I know our gurus
would approve of that. I oppose Khalistan because I know
it will spell disaster for the Sikh commimity as well as
the country. There is nothing anti-Sikh about any of
this.
The three other writers on the assassins’ hit list are
doing more than me in spreading the message of goodwill
between the two sister commimities. They do so at
enormous risks to their lives because they too feel that
this is what the gurus would have liked them to do and
because they feel it is the best thing to do for the
commimity and country.
And now let me tell our would-be assassins what is
anti-Sikh. Killing an old Jathedar of the Akal Takht was
anti-Sikh. Killing Sant Longowal was anti-Sikh. KilHng
Master Tara Singh’s daughter, Bibi Rajinder Kaur was
anti-Sikh. Hanging innocent Hindus was anti-Sikh. I
could extend the list of their anti-Sikh activities to several
pages.' Those who committed these crimes disgraced their
gurus and the religion they profess.
Inspite of the massive security that surrounds me
wherever I go, they came very close to getting me. The
story unfolded itself when I happened to be holidaying
in Goa two years ago. Armed police were posted in front
162
, C y ^y:^leedihg:^
and at the re^ of my ;liotelTo6m. ^
me when I, went for a stroll oh
the D.I.G. Polica o£;Goa. against /thi
intrusion into my privacy. Very geMy he explam
I needed so much guarding. The poHce officer happehed-
to be the one who had interrogated Jinda yrhp had ^
murdered General Vaidya in Pune and then abscohded.f
A year later, he was captured in Delhi. Oh his persph;
they found a plan of my apartment showffig the chair by,:
the window where I normally sit to read and write. Jindh ’
confessed that he had visited my apartment, gone to the ?,
kitchen to ask for a glass of water and talcen a good look , :
around to mark escape routes. He also admitted that he
had followed me up to Kasauli but at village Garkh^,:;;;
two miles short Of Kasauli, felt he was being shadowed ;
and returned to Delhi where he was captured. He is how^^ ::
under sentence of death for the miurder of General X S. , ;'
Vaidya, He was asked why he wanted to kill me, He ’
admitted that he knew very little about me and had not '
read anything I had written. But his bosses, who directed,
him, felt that I had to be eUminated because 1 was aih
enemy of Bhalistan. Jinda was told that I would be au ; .
easy target and would evoke a lot of publicity,
I am not a brave man but being slain by a teirorist !
does not disturb my night’s sleep. Manini Chattegee of \
The Telegraph and Sunday came to- get answers to a
questionnaire drafted by her editor. The last question ’
was, 'blow would you like to . die?” I answered quite
candidly and without bravado, T wotild like to be shot by;
a Khahstani terrorist. At my age (77), a quick end would .
be preferable, to wasting.away with some old-age disease: , ^
in a hospital. It would also give me the halo of maHyrdom :
and the feeling that I had given my Ihe tO preserve th’h
in^grity of my motherland. Terrbnst ; threats do not defen
Khushwant Singh
me, and many others like me, from writing what we are
writing and doing what we are doing. If they sncceed in
getting us, I am sure many others will rise to continue
this Dharma Yudh against these evil men.
164
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